Back at Christmas, my sister, Tonia, out of the blue, turned to me while celebrating with our family and said, "Tim (our little brother) lives in Washington, DC, lets go to the Inauguration!" I said, "Let's go!" So we decided to take our daughters, mine, Amber, 12, and Macy 10, who's 11th birthday was the 20th, Inauguration Day and her daughter Shiann, 10, started making plans after New Year's and everything fell into place. We got cheap flights, a hotel and time off. We arrived in Washington DC at 8:45am on Saturday, January 17th after spending the night at a great hotel, Holiday Inn Express, in Manchester, NH.
We had a GREAT time in Washington! My oldest son, Ryan, lives an hour away, so he and his girlfriend came to visit Sunday. We had never met her, so that was very exciting! We all LOVED her! We all went to the concert at the Lincoln Memorial and ended up sitting right in front of a monitor without even standing in line! Some people had been lined up for 2-3 hours and still didn't get as good a spot! People had given up on the security check points and they were breached by the time we got there.
Macy has been bugging me for MONTHS to take her to a Jonas Brothers concert, I told her it would never happen because they don't come around here and we'd never get tickets. Well, they were playing at the Kid's Inaugural Concert on Monday night, day before her 11th birthday. I still didn't think they'd be able to go UNTIL I read a site that said it was for military families and my SIL works at the Pentagon. After that I was just sure she would be going, so packed her dress, shoes etc. and sure enough, my SIL got 2 tickets, one for her and one for one of the 3 girls, Amber, Macy or my niece Shiann. Well, Macy was the only one really crazy about the bands, so she got to go!!! She had a fantastic time. Best birthday present ever!
Tuesday, we decided to go to the Inauguration early, but to leave the girls home since it was 6:30, very cold and it would be HOURS before the inauguration. So my brother, sister and I hit the Metro and the trains were so crowded my brother just couldn't do that. So we decided to go back and celebrate with everyone somehow. Later, my sister and I decided to take a walk and see what was going on, so we checked out the Metro. The hallway leading into the Metro from the mall was filled with people, so we thought we shouldn't even try. We started back and then she decided she wanted to get a souvenior and we had to pass the Metro again, this time it was almost empty, so we checked it out. It seemed fine, so we ran back, got the girls and started out at 10:00 am to catch the 11:30 ceremony. We got right into the Metro, train arrived as we came down the stairs, walked on, plenty of room, talked to people and they told us to go right towards the Capitol when we got off, so we did. By then, the security barriers had been breached, so we ended up walking right up in front of the Capitol on the mall where we could see, although everyone was little and you couldn't tell who was who, but we were right under a speaker and could hear plain as day! It was awesome! It was Macy's birthday, and they spread a blanket on the lawn and everyone wished her happy birthday. I shared my binoculars and made lots of friends! One couple was from the east and had been to Deer Isle, Maine last year, best vacation ever, and the older gentleman beside me was from Philly and his son had gone to Bates here in Maine! So funny. The people on the subway were from CT and had been to Maine too. Everyone was in such a great mood, so happy to be there and helpful and patient. I've never experienced anything like that. Afterward, it was a little scary because they didn't open the Metro like they had said and people were confused and there wasn't anyone to direct you. It was a mob and it got scary for 10-15 minutes. We decided to go back to the Air & Space museum to warm up and regroup. Warmed up, used the bathroom, my sister met some women from Texas and Florida and became fast friends in the line to the potty! They sang Happy Birthday to Macy! She was wished a Happy Bday by two young men from India that had been standing in the mall for 7 hours and commiserated with the girls as they could remember going to events and being less than thrilled. They were very cute! We decided to walk back to Pentagon City over the 14th St. bridge, which was a great decision. There were many people on the same journey, still happy, no complaining, so orderly! Every color, shape, age, and sex! The city was a HUGE mess. Tonia started collecting lost mittens and is going to put them on line to see if anyone claims them! We could have collected scarves, blankets, even coats! The girls did a great job, we had Chinese food and got ready to go to the airport to fly home. There wasn't ANYONE at the airport! It was dead. We heard that most everyone tried to leave today and its a mad house! So, I have never been so convinced of the POWERFUL effect of positive thinking. We still can't believe how smoothly everything worked out for us. Its something I'll never forget, and after seeing the yearning of all these people to step up and contribute to fixing whats wrong with the country, I'm more sure than ever that we will come out of this better, stronger and a more perfect union. YES WE CAN!
We were crazy, but I'm so glad we did it!
