So, I got chosen to be an Inaugural volunteer. There were 15,000 of us (100,000 people applied). I didn't know my assignment, besides "parade" until I got there. My start time was 5 am. I got to the Rosslyn metro at ten to 4, the time it opened. I walked from my friend's daughter's apartment, about a mile away - it was scarey and dark, and cold. When I arrived, the station had a line to get in - a large group of high school kids from somewhere were there with several teachers and being schooled on the metro.
Once on the platform, there was a 15 minute wait expected for the next train. I was right in front so I just waited. Finally, the train came. It was full. I mean face pressed against the glass full. Nobody could get on. The next train came three minutes later. I was also full, but the crowd behind me surged, and before I knew it, I was on the train, completely on the other side. The energy was amazing. Everyone, at 4 in the morning! was happy.
I got to my staging area, and began a grueling wait for my leader, that was only made better by the fact that it was in front of a Starbucks, and I met new friends with hand warmers! I finally found out that I would be helping people from the metro find the mall and parade area. Then, my luck just kept growing.
I greeted people, and tried not to freeze to death for a few hours. Everyone was smiling and happy and polite. "Happy Obama Day!" "Happy Inauguration Day" and "Welcome to Washington!" is how I greeted people and all of them responded in kind. I had to dip inside a news stand for a minute to regain feeling in my legs, but all in all not a bad time. Then, the guy with free Starbucks showed up! Limos whizzed by, fire trucks, speeding SUV's with flashing lights and D.C. seemed to be buzzing.
I wondered what happened to the homeless people usually in the park where I was and someone said that they had been sheltered for the day somewhere. Hmmm. What did they do afterwards? Dump them back out there?
Finally, after an eternity, and after I was informed (9 am) that the Mall was closed - closed? Really? My leader came by with a sweet deal. We could walk towards the parade route, helping people and she had some bleacher tickets!!!!!!!!!! Could it get any better? Yes, yes it could.
We zoomed through security (with a thorough check) and headed towards our bleachers. Right next to the Presidential viewing stand - maybe a few hundred yards. We began waiting. (It was about 11). We danced, we did the wave. We held hands to keep warm. We took pictures. We shared our campaign stories. We bonded. We saw the motorcade with the Bushes, Cheneys, Obamas, and Bidens leave for the ceremony!
We had a loud speaker for the ceremony, but saw none of it. During his oath, the crowd was silent. Holding our breath. Then, cheers erupted all across the city. We could hear the mall crowd. They were packed in from the Capitol to the Lincoln! The man next to me, Addis, a volunteer, is from Ghana. He had tears running down his face. We all did.
Later, after a grueling, and mighty freezing wait, the parade began. We were spotted as volunteers with our hats and were told we were needed... We headed where we were told and ended up in the bleacher right next to the Pres box!!!!!!!!! Not press, Pres! President Obama's seat. Woo hoo. We were needed to fill the bleachers so it didn't look like a sparse crowd. It was a sparse crowd however. Glitches in security I guess prevented people from getting there. And, people who didn't plan ahead and leave by 4, were not getting in anywhere.
The parade was amazing - well the first part was at least. I already posted the best photo - all of them are blurry, and I'll put up the rest on Flickr later. We saw President and Mrs. Obama - they waved at me! We saw the Bidens.... I got the crowd to shout "JOE! JOE!JOE!" and he pointed to us and said "You rock!"
My fellow volunteer friends decided they couldn't brave the cold any more and left. I stayed on for a bit, got some pics of the first family in the booth, and then headed out. I had to walk a ways to find a metro that was available, and on the final block, I turned to see the entire US Navy band, and they struck up "Anchors Away" Again, I was a blubbering mess, but it provided me a chance to warm up for a second.
Then, the ride back on the metro, I met a family from Louisiana who had been there since 2am, saw it all on Jumbotrons and was heading home. Grandma - a former teacher, and 80 years old was with them, and I showed her my pictures.
The worst part of the whole thing was getting out of the metro station - people lost their minds, and I ended up walking to meet Scott. We went for some pizza, and I started to feel my legs again, and the exhaustion set in. I ended up staying home from work the next day, because I was beat, as you can see from the picture above.
