What an incredible view it was! To be in front of the Washington Monument, looking towards the Capital during President Obama's Inauguration was truly a special personal, family, and community experience.
Our local community organization (IMPACT Silver Spring) was honored to host 15 staff and volunteers from the Lawrence Community Works (a NeighborWorks Organization) for this momentous event. To see the event through their eyes was simply beautiful. The three Latinas that stayed at our house were jubilant beyond words. None had ever come to Washington, DC. And all were simply ecstatic to be here for the day.
We got the buzz going the night before the Inauguration when we had dinner at the house of one of our volunteer board members. The tears started rolling when we went 'around the room' and asked folks "why are we here"? The responses were too emotional to hold back the tears: "I can now believe it myself when I tell my son and daughter 'you can be anything you want'"; "This is the reason I came to America"; "As a first time voter, it is awesome to see my friends - all under 25 years old - be so totally into it"; "My grandson will see this day in the history books and I want to make sure he knows I was there"... And my favorite - from a bumper sticker: "I am here because as of today 'HOPE > FEAR' (hope is greater than fear)".
Then came the tough decision: How early should we go down to the Mall? The young people decided they'd go in the first Metro train, thus getting down there early enough to stake out our location in front of the Washington Monument. They assumed the others could follow much later. Ha! - not a chance!... EVERYBODY wanted to head down early. Our three guests - or rather, our new friends - told my wife and I: "not a minute later than 5 a.m.!"... And, when we got down to Mall well before sunrise, they were not satisfied with the view from the Washington Monument: They ran - literally! - all the way down to get as close to the Capital as possible. (The rest of us opted to stay put, however, at the foot of the Washington Monument - a major transcendental spot for the moment, to say the least.)
We passed the time by playing a bit of football (before the crowd got so big it became impossible), and chanting - en Español - a chant the folks from Lawrence brought to us: "O-B-A-M-A Obama ya ganó"... We were so loud that one of the news stations picked it up!
Given the impossibility of keeping a group of 25 people together, we had arranged to meet in the afternoon at a local office space before taking the Metro back home. (And, boy-o-boy, did that hot chocolate and heated space feel good!)
Later in the evening, we had our own version of a "Ball" at the local pool hall in Downtown Silver Spring, where the monitors usually reserved for watching Redskins games were all tuned to the different news channel... So, we danced the night away with our friends from Lawrence while commenting on all the beautiful people and enjoying the visuals from all the other "Balls".
When it was time to say 'good-bye' this morning, it was not easy... But, amongst the hugs and the tears we simply resolved to "do it again in four years."
For pictures & more: www.reemberto.com/inauguration_2009.html
Our local community organization (IMPACT Silver Spring) was honored to host 15 staff and volunteers from the Lawrence Community Works (a NeighborWorks Organization) for this momentous event. To see the event through their eyes was simply beautiful. The three Latinas that stayed at our house were jubilant beyond words. None had ever come to Washington, DC. And all were simply ecstatic to be here for the day.
We got the buzz going the night before the Inauguration when we had dinner at the house of one of our volunteer board members. The tears started rolling when we went 'around the room' and asked folks "why are we here"? The responses were too emotional to hold back the tears: "I can now believe it myself when I tell my son and daughter 'you can be anything you want'"; "This is the reason I came to America"; "As a first time voter, it is awesome to see my friends - all under 25 years old - be so totally into it"; "My grandson will see this day in the history books and I want to make sure he knows I was there"... And my favorite - from a bumper sticker: "I am here because as of today 'HOPE > FEAR' (hope is greater than fear)".
Then came the tough decision: How early should we go down to the Mall? The young people decided they'd go in the first Metro train, thus getting down there early enough to stake out our location in front of the Washington Monument. They assumed the others could follow much later. Ha! - not a chance!... EVERYBODY wanted to head down early. Our three guests - or rather, our new friends - told my wife and I: "not a minute later than 5 a.m.!"... And, when we got down to Mall well before sunrise, they were not satisfied with the view from the Washington Monument: They ran - literally! - all the way down to get as close to the Capital as possible. (The rest of us opted to stay put, however, at the foot of the Washington Monument - a major transcendental spot for the moment, to say the least.)
We passed the time by playing a bit of football (before the crowd got so big it became impossible), and chanting - en Español - a chant the folks from Lawrence brought to us: "O-B-A-M-A Obama ya ganó"... We were so loud that one of the news stations picked it up!
Given the impossibility of keeping a group of 25 people together, we had arranged to meet in the afternoon at a local office space before taking the Metro back home. (And, boy-o-boy, did that hot chocolate and heated space feel good!)
Later in the evening, we had our own version of a "Ball" at the local pool hall in Downtown Silver Spring, where the monitors usually reserved for watching Redskins games were all tuned to the different news channel... So, we danced the night away with our friends from Lawrence while commenting on all the beautiful people and enjoying the visuals from all the other "Balls".
When it was time to say 'good-bye' this morning, it was not easy... But, amongst the hugs and the tears we simply resolved to "do it again in four years."
For pictures & more: www.reemberto.com/inauguration_2009.html
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