The Inauguration, Part 2

The presidential inauguration is the epitome of the Washington experience--a political and cultural event that happens no other place. Since we landed in Washington in a year that it occurred, we didn't want to miss it, in spite of the challenge of taking a family of six, including a toddler. Would it be worth the trouble? Would Judah have a meltdown during the oath of office? Would the older three drive us mad with their whining? Would we lose a kid on the Metro? We were willing to take the risks.

Monday, January 21, was the big day. We all bundled up because it was supposed to be really cold, but when we got out the door around 9:45, it was sunny and pleasant. Still chilly, so we weren’t too hot in our cold-weather gear. We walked to the bus stop and caught the bus pretty quickly. We were not allowed to take a stroller to the inauguration, so Harvey had to carry Judah everywhere. We took the bus to Potomac Avenue and went underground from there. It still wasn’t too crowded at that point. We got on the train, and it started to fill up--we were standing. I was surprised that more people didn’t get off where we did, but when we did get off, it was crowded with police officers keeping watch. One of them told Ben he had to take his hood down. We followed the crowds out of the station and followed Harvey and the signs to our ticket area. (The tickets were color coded; ours were green--see the sign below.) There were a lot of people out, but it was controlled and calm.

On our way to the inauguration

As we got closer to the green ticket section, we were told to get our tickets ready. We passed through security and followed the crowds in front of us. We got to a point where the crowd flow stopped and it looked like we couldn’t get much closer. I didn’t think we had reached our section, because no one had taken our tickets yet. But we couldn’t have gotten closer unless we pushed our way through the crowd, and that would have been tough with all the kids. So we stopped and waited. We heard people around us saying they weren’t letting people even with tickets into the ticketed sections anymore. I guess they had filled up--we didn’t get there early enough. But if we had been earlier, we would have had to stand out in the cold with the kids, and that would not have been fun. I think it was worth it to wait.

Our view from the crowd

There were all kinds of people around us--black, white, families, gay couples, single people, young, old. There was an anti-abortion protester perched high in the huge tree in front of us, yelling almost constantly through the program. He got some reactions from people around us, some of them saying (or yelling back) pretty hateful things. I just don’t get him, and I don’t get the people insulting him. Does he think he is going to change anyone’s mind that way? And why do people let him bother them? Just ignore him and make the best of the experience.

Tree protester

We couldn’t see the platform, but we could see one of the giant screens in the distance. 

The screen we watched during the ceremony--Michelle Obama's entrance

So we listened and we watched the screen as well as we could, and that was our experience. We tried to lift the kids up a few times so they could see the screen too, but mostly they sat on the ground and played games. Judah barely fussed at all and was quiet most of the time, thankfully. It was fun to watch for all the characters as they made their entrances: Biden and his wife, Sasha and Malia, Michelle Obama, and last the President. There were lots of cheers for each one. Schumer made the introduction, and I remember him talking about the Capitol dome completion 150 years ago under Lincoln during the Civil War. My favorite part of the ceremony was James Taylor’s performance of “America the Beautiful.” It was so simple and lovely, just him and his guitar. Kelly Clarkson and Beyonce also performed. At the end, we asked a girl to take our family’s picture. She was from Boston but going to Catholic University for grad school. I got to take a picture for her too.

After the ceremony--happy family!

Judah did great!

We waited for 20 or 30 minutes for the crowds to thin out a bit, and then we headed toward Pennsylvania Avenue to find somewhere to eat. It was about 1:00 by this time. The line to get back on the Metro was insane. The restaurants were crowded, but we found this Salvadorian/Mexican restaurant on 8th St. that made a place for a table for us. It was a tiny table by the kitchen, but it was warm and the food was delicious. As we got settled at our table, I heard a woman at a nearby table make a sarcastic remark about us, something like “Now they have to maneuver around this family of six to get in and out of the kitchen.” Did she think we asked to be put there or something? That’s the first time I’ve heard something negative about our large family here, even though it’s clear that there aren’t many of us around, and in some ways the city is not user-friendly for families like us. I didn’t let it bother me though--I ignored her and just enjoyed my yummy meal with my fun, sweet kids!

Warm bodies and full bellies: all smiles!

So it was definitely worth the trouble to go. I won’t forget the experience--the details will stay with me for this possibly once-in-a-lifetime (or at least once-every-four-years) opportunity! And I hope the kids appreciate it someday as well.