Happy Inauguration Day!!!
I feel bittersweet waking up today. The biggest party of my lifetime is taking place less than six miles from my home, yet I feel all the precautions taken in DC have left those of us living close by very little options as to how to get to the Capitol or Mall. My office is within the 50 block radius that security has closed down so my initial thought of driving to my office. parking in our garage and walking from there is not possible. Every local television station (each one claiming to be THE inauguration station), has painted such a horrific painting of traffic congestion, crowds unable to move, standing for hours on end in bitter cold, and the dreaded port-a-potties! Only 5,000 for an estimated crowd of a million or more. I just don't like those odds. The cold always makes me have to go, so in the end that was the nail in the coffin. If I were 20 years younger I probably would have just not thought about it and gone.
But, as I was lying in bed last night watching Nightline I felt okay. They were showing folks getting off of Greyhound buses, each one coming from farther away, Detroit...Houston...Las Vegas. Each one feeling they HAD to make the pilgrimage here to witness this historic event. I thought "yes, let this be their day" I LIVE here and will have plenty of opportunity to see the Obamas as their motorcades whizz around the city. My association's mission was one of Obama's key interests during the campaign so we are already gearing up to ask him to be the keynote at our annual conference in November that will be right here in DC this year. Keep your fingers crossed for that!
So, welcome everyone to DC!!! Stay warm and enjoy this historic and uplifting day. Me, I will either watch it on a large screen at my community center or go to our local independent bookstore "Politics and Prose" and watch it there. Either way, I'm sure I'll be needing plenty of tissues.
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4 comments:
Although it is certainly a momentous occassion, I can't say that I'm sorry not to be there in person. The traffic looks insane, and the cold weather - brrrrr! I'll watch from somewhere warm, and be glad of it!
Oh, yes--on the kleenex. What a day.
We are within easy driving distance but just thought very much like you. Let others enjoy; we can watch on TV.
That had to be memorable for you--perhaps in a way only DCers would know.
Wow.
Christine, those of us who watched the coverage all day on TV had the best seat.
We cancelled a trip to MD last weekend, knowing Rt. 50 would be a catastrophe.
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