Once-in-a-lifetime for reals

The first time I was ever in a humongous crowd was when I went to Merida, Mexico, with my dad right before I left to serve my mission. It was late summer and that means hot and humid in Mexico. We happened to be there on September 16, Mexican Independence Day, and found ourselves in the Merida Zocolo during the evening leading up to the night's celebrations. We joined with thousands of other proud Mexicans (my tall dad towering over them all) at midnight as fireworks flew off the oldest cathedral in Mexico and erupted into the sky signifying the country's independence. I was standing shoulder to shoulder with thousands of hot, sweaty, drunk, and stinky Mexicans and I couldn't have loved it more.

I spent some time in another big crowd this weekend as I joined with 900,000 of my fellow Americans for the 57th Presidential Inauguration and the swearing in of our re-elected president Barack Obama.

6:15 am- woke up

7:13 am- caught the bus to the metro

7:30 am- got on the metro at Pentagon

8:00 am- waited in a ten minute line to go through security- hid my peanut butter and nutella sandwich in my jacket so it wouldn't be confiscated.

8:30 am- found our spot in the green south standing section on the south part of the West Lawn of the Capitol

8:31 am- realized that the program didn't start for THREE hours and that we'd be standing there shoulder-to-shoulder with 900,000 other people, unable to move or go the bathroom for three entire hours

8:32 am- freaked out a little bit (we all know my issues with having to go to the bathroom)

9:00 am- was thoroughly entertained by the crazy man who climbed a large tree and evaded security in order to protest abortion

9:25 am- still distracted by the man in the tree who has now climbed all the way to the top and is swaying precariously from the weak branches and yelling to everyone underneath

9:36 am- gasp as the man in the tree almost falls out of the tree

10:05 am- we find a little room to bend over and stretch our backs

10:30 am- the crowd cheers and boos as Democrats and Republicans emerge from the tunnel and take their respective seats as Congresspeople- am a little taken aback by the booing, super unclassy.

11:11 am- a choir starts singing from the stands

11:15 am- Sasha and Malia enter. They look awesome in their beautiful colored coats.

11:36 am- the Inauguration starts- there's an excitement in the air

11:45 am- thank heavens the program is going quickly- James Taylor and Kelly Clarkson sound spectacular

11:57 am- Joe Biden and Barack Obama take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America- I feel extremely proud to be an American.



12:10 pm- some poet gets up to the podium but doesn't speak loud enough for anyone to hear- borefest- someone get him out of here our legs hurt!

12:12 pm- turn our attention once again to the man in the tree who is still yelling at the top of his lungs and making the people around him seriously mad

12:15 pm- the poet finally finishes his poem, thank heavens

12:20 pm- Beyonce looks BANGIN! She rocks the National Anthem! You go girl!

12:30 pm- the benediction is given, he asks that Joe and Barack are blessed with a real southern/Mexican accent, kinda awesome, kinda hilarious

12: 35 pm- we start the trek back to the metro and only have to wait to get down the escalator at L'Enfant. Easy and breezy.

1:50 pm- make it back to our apartment and rush to Cafe Rio to feed our starving bellies

2:00 pm- scarf....literally scarf our salads without a second's hesitation

2:30 pm- fall into bed for a three hour nap to recuperate from the cold and standing all morning.

Gosh it feels good to be American!