Backstage the day before the ceremony.

On Thursday, Pam and I traveled to Washington DC for the second inauguration of President Barack Obama.  At the last moment, I got a call that I had tickets.  Our friends Annie and Stan secured a place for us to stay with family, so we decided to take the leap, despite FOC (fear of crowds) and LMU (last minute uncertainties), because when we woke up on Thursday, we felt like this (our grand daughter Laila Rose):

But we managed to extricate ourselves from sleep and trepidation and set out, despite AWTDSAT (also wanting to do stuff at home).  We took the train from New York, which was a lovely way to travel, city center to city center.

The next day, we made our way to the basement of the Dirkson Office building to pick up our tickets and then wandered around among the growing crowds to suss out where we would be entering.  This was one of the first things that we saw, which little did we know, would become a defining feature and theme of our Inaugural experience.

Here’s why:

We viewed the entire ceremony on the barely visible jumbotron just beyond the potties.  The situation was enhanced by kids climbing on top of the potties, obscuring our view completely.  Fortunately some young men persuaded them to dismount by threatening to tip over the potties.  The only other thing was the crazy man in the tree who brayed at us about god and abortion and assault weapons throughout the entire day (that is from 7 am to 1pm).  Apparently, the police were unable to get him down without hurting themselves, us or him.

And then it began. I was reminded why we were there, because the words and the joy and the song and the brilliance of the day came together – a perfect confluence.  For us as gay women, the Presidents mention of our civil and human rights, the inclusion of Stonewall with Selma and of gay poet Richard Blanco were balm for the heart.  We could not hear his reading, but caught it later that evening on television.  His words are the summation of that perfection – a day savored, a day shared.