The Inauguration

My brother and I were on the metro at 12:30am ready to stay up the night to get into the mall for Barack Obama's Inauguration. We figured that everyone would have our plan. But virtually no one was on the metro. I kept repeating, "This is working too perfectly. There must be a catch."

We got off the metro and went on a search for a place to sit for a couple of hours, warmth, and something to eat. We guessed that the bars and restaurants would be packed. They were not. "This is working too perfectly. There must be a catch."

One restaurant closed and we went to a bar and ordered a couple of sodas. We sat for a while and when it came time to pay, the waiter just waived us off. "This is working too perfectly. There must be a catch."

We got to the corner of 6th and E where a small crowd was waiting. We thought we'd wait here until the gate opened. It was a little before 3am. Everything was working beautifully. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of my mind, "Good things like this don't happen to you David. This time won't be any different.'

Then we heard rumors that we were in the wrong place. We had to walk to 3rd Street. When we arrived, there was a large crowd standing around, confused. We noticed that people were walking into the tunnel and we decided to follow the masses. It was a little after 3am. "We're actually getting in! This is really happening! There was no catch!"

Then the wave of people stopped. It didn't move. We were surrounded by people on all sides, stuck in the 3rd Street tunnel. We heard rumors that no one would be let out of the tunnel until 7am. It was cold, under 20 degrees, with an urgent breeze. I had to pee. This was the catch.

7am rolled around and nobody moved. I still had to pee. The cold crept up on me every so often. I couldn't avoid the inane conversations of people pasted into my back and sides. I tried to escape into the pleasant thoughts that I've stored away for such an eventuality. I tried to move my feet so I wouldn't lose feeling, but with every movement I bumped into someone next to me. After a slow moving push towards the front, we finally exited the tunnel after 8am.

Once we crawled past security, we encountered a slew of barriers. There was nowhere to go and no one to help. My instinct told me that we'd be able to cross into the mall if we just kept walking down. At one point, we had to go right even though the mall was on the left. A surge of people tried to fit through a tight enclosure, the only way to get to the mall. I still had to pee. We kept walking though sometimes we were halted to a standstill. I tried to pee in the IRS building. No luck. Finally, we were able to cross into the mall and I found an open portapotty. We stood, slightly closer to the monument than to the Capitol staring at the jumbotron. There was a complex feeling of glee for the occasion, but frustration with the obstacles that we were forced to overcome. Some of the hope of the day had been drained out of us.

As Obama took the oath of office, I must admit that tears ran down my face. At the moment, I forgot that my toes were frozen, that I hadn't slept all night, that I hadn't eaten since the previous night, that the intense sun reddened my already chapped face, and that I was merely watching the event on a jumbotron. Barack Obama was the president of the United States of America.

After he spoke, a speech that acknowledged the difficulties we face but failed to ask for sacrifice or show political courage, we tried to leave. We attempted to regroup on 12th Street, but it was blocked. We got lost following a crowd and had to force our way back. We slowly went down to 14th Street, but the exit had been closed. We inched our way towards 18th Street. By the time we left the mall an hour and half had passed since Obama's speech concluded. But we still had more problems. Buses lined the street to the point where we couldn't get out. We felt trapped. We managed to get around the buses at 20th Street. We then walked to the Woodley Park metro station, an extra 2.5 miles. Apparently, I hadn't wiped as well as I thought and during the walk, that came back to haunt me.

I hope DC changes the way they do business before 2012.