Linds left this Inauguration Day story in our inbox:
I was there!
From the moment that President Obama was elected, I knew that I would be there. I gathered a group of friends and headed to DC the day before to scrounge for “silver tickets” to be in a good section of the National Mall.
We couldn’t find them in traditional places, but randomly on the street, a Congressional staffer had 4 (the perfect number) and gave them to us! On the day of, my friends and I took the Metro and, after some finagling, found ourselves directly across the street from the Capitol!
The weather was frigid, but the warm feelings from the crowd made us all warm up. Being there was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to do it again!
One last Inauguration Day story, this one from Charlotte:
I was a junior in college and that day happened to be the day my sorority was taking our annual composite photos.
All the girls were required to stop by the house at some point during the day to have their individual photo taken, an obligation most saw as simply an inconvenient interruption to their already busy days.
When I arrived, the place was complete chaos. The tv was tuned to the inauguration but garnered little attention as dozens of girls hustled in and out of the room. I bobbed and weaved through the crowd and somehow managed to get my picture taken in under fifteen minutes. Just as eager as everyone else to get back to my regularly scheduled programming for the day, I hurried to grab my things and head out the door.
Then, something stopped me. Just as I was headed out the door, I noticed the house had fallen silent. There was no idle chatter, no zipping of bags or slamming of doors. Even the sound of the photographer clicking away on his camera had ceased.
Every person in that house had stopped cold and turned their attention to the television. President Obama has begun his inaugural address. For the next twenty minutes, no one moved or said a word.
We all forgot about wherever it was we were hurrying off to. We lived in the moment. It felt good.
Here’s Drew’s Inauguration Day story:
Where was I, three years ago?
I had been in London for two weeks on Inauguration Day. Most of my friends had gone down to DC for the event and I was crushed that I couldn’t be there, especially having worked for the campaign and thrown a raucous party on Election night. The inauguration should’ve been part three—capping it all off.
Instead, I was sitting on a not-very-comfy bed 3000+ miles away, feeling pretty homesick and getting incredibly expensive texts from friends who were lined up on the Mall. I watched the whole thing on my computer, wearing my Obama t-shirt over my sweater.
I was feeling pretty blue about the whole thing—but when I went down the pub that night, the entire bar stopped and applauded when they saw my t-shirt. I’ve never been prouder to’ve been a part of something.
