Wednesday, Jan 21, 2009

Photos from the Inauguration

We came home exhausted, and even now our bodies have not completely recovered from the ten hours of walking in the cold after little sleep. I had wanted to share some of the thoughts that I had during the ceremony and speech, but they will have to wait, as we'd like to post this before it becomes completely irrelevant.

Dannii and Jess, who live in Northern Virginia, came up the night before for a sleepover and to join us going downtown (as we can walk to our subway line, and no one really knew what to expect with parking). Check out their version of the day's events here.

Some living in DC had no interest in the inauguration. Others had interest in going, but would rather watch it on TV than battle the crowds. Others went in spite of the crowds. Perhaps there were also some, like me, who went because of the crowds--the chaos, the energy, the confusion, the masses both battling and celebrating with one another, the conflict of will against weather.

(Plus, we don't own a TV, and the idea of going to CiCi's Pizza to watch it--which is what we did for the opening of the Beijing Olympics--wasn't particularly appealing. Trust me.)

We tried to enter the mall from the north, but it turns out that "whatever you've read or heard before can't be counted on" (so said a security guard). We were re-routed, with thousands of others, through a 2-mile freeway tunnel to the other side of the mall.

It felt strangely post-apocalyptic and very surreal, marching through the darkness through empty freeways and tunnels, amid sporadic sounds of excitement and police sirens, watching the thousands of darkened figures, downcast from the cold, trudging ahead.

I promised Lara no references in this post to the word "phallus," so don't expect any. But we ended up closer to that side of the mall, once we managed to get in.

The director of the National Cancer Institute, in an email to all employees, described this day as a "milestone day for our country, as we formally welcome the Obama administration--and we celebrate, once again, the peaceful transition of presidential power." Being there in the mall in person--and watching that transition of power take place--was a powerful reminder of the liberties, freedoms, and stability we enjoy as Americans, of the inspired nature of our Constitution, of the cost and sacrifice that earlier generations made on our behalf, and of the roots of our great nation. Seeing Obama speak was also a powerful reminder of how far we have come. There were many thoughts and emotions that afternoon, and I was moved and grateful that Lara and I had the opportunity to be there.

(It was also fun to see my great uncle Bob participate in the swearing in!)

After the inauguration, everyone was flooding out of the same area, so we didn't want to attempt any of the immediate metro stations. We returned to the same freeway tunnel for the first leg of the trip home. (Dannii reports that we walked about 18,000 steps, or 10+ miles, in all.)

It was a great day. We hope you all waved to us from your living rooms. We were waving back.