Concert to Stand For

Dear DC,

Thanks for the historic day!

For all those who missed the "We Are One" Obama Inauguration Celebration concert today (broadcast on HBO), you missed out! I saw it.....twice. Once live, standing in the cold, and once at home on HBO.com to see what really happened.

First of all, it is exhilarating to be a part of something so big with such a large crowd. To be there to celebrate change in the country alongside 250,000 some odd people was an honor.

But boy did my feet ACHE! We walked to the Lincoln Memorial from our apartment which is oh, only about 3.5 miles. That's not too bad except for the fact that once we got there the last 0.5 miles took about an hour to get through because of the security and throngs of people.

Thank goodness it was 35 degrees (warmer than yesterday) so it wasn't so painfully cold. Bundled up (and we were), it was actually quite pleasant.

My problem is that I'm an optimist and a futurist. I'm always thinking that what is in front of me will be better than where I am at now. So when Kyle finds a perfectly good spot to put down a blanket and sit for a while, I protest, convinced that for some reason someone at the front saved a spot just for lil' ol' me. I donated money to Obama's campaign and made phone calls on his behalf....I deserve that spot at the front right? Well, everyone else had the same idea (and feeling
of deservedness) so I ended up in a crowd stopped about 100 ft from the front.

Not bad, except for the fact that this 5' 3" girl was stuck staring directly at the back of a red and black coat covered in 2 inch grey hair from the molting 6' 5" middle-aged man directly in front of me. Mr. Red Giant was flanked by a 6' 2" college student studying in Ithica (but originally from Arizona) and a 5' 11" woman in a red parka which advertised that she had been to Antarctica in 2002. I got to know those neighbors very well while overhearing their conversations for the following 2 hours waiting for the concert the begin. And once it did begin, I got to know them even better as my body was pressed into theirs while everyone struggled for a view of the action. My view?....the red and black coat.

So, I stepped on my tippy toes to catch glimpses of the two jumbo screens in front of us from time to time and jumped up and down in the crowd in hopes of actually seeing the actual celebrity performing - who were 1 inch tall from my perspective. Shame on Mary J. Blige for wearing all white because she blended right into the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The only way I actually saw her was the contrast from her bad blonde dye job against the ivory steps.

But all the walking and 5 hours of standing in place (worse than walking for 5 hours straight) was worth it when about an hour and a half into the concert the ring of The Edge's guitar rang out and Bono opened his magnificent mouth to peal out the words "Let Freedom Ring!" before starting into the first verse of "Pride (In the Name of Love)" and setting my heart aflutter and a slapping a permanent grin on my face. U2 was bestowed the time to play two full songs so they finished up with "City of Blinding Lights" and a political statement on how Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream is not just the American dream but also the Irish dream, the European dream, the African dream, the Israeli dream and even the Palestinian dream (GO BONO!).

There is only one man that could follow the amazing spectacle that is U2, and that man is of course the next president of the United States, Barack Obama himself!!! And I saw him. That's right....be jealous. You can see him in the picture below.....can't see him? It's like Where's Waldo.....look for the white podium just to the left of the big screen. That black coat? Yup, that's Obama's coat.



Don't worry...it was worth it! And I will do it all over again on Tuesday when we go to the Inauguration!!

Thanks DC!

With Love,

Julia