Exhausted, cold and thirsty for beverages, we wandered around trying to find anything resembling a restaurant. So many roads were blocked off for the parade that we were pushed completely off course. We eventually found ourselves near the Farragut West Metro, which is near the Lombardy Hotel and features a cute little bar. We decided to step inside for a drink.
There were no seats available, but two very nice women made room for us. After more than seven hours of standing in the cold and our muscles aching, God bless these beautiful women for making a place for us to sit down. My vodka martini ended up just being straight vodka with a few olives in it, but being that I could barely feel my toes, I wasn't exactly complaining. Christopher ordered a beer and as we defrosted, two more people joined the area we were sitting in.
The newcomers were filming a documentary about the inauguration as it related to race. They had found that younger people at the inauguration were not as focused on race, but more on Obama’s ideals and outlook on the world. We all began chatting and found out that one of the women who had made room for us was actually an ancestor of Booker T. Washington . Her sister who joined later, Sarah Rush, is a public speaker from Oakland who talks about their family history. The other woman who helped make room for us was originally from the South and had experienced segregation first-hand. When she was young, her father insisted that she and her brother attend one of the white schools in town and they had to be walked to school accompanied by the National Guard. The gravity of the day struck us.
We were eventually decided to head "home." We popped into a Starbucks to get a couple of coffees and in the long line, I ended up chatting with a chemist and doctor from Switzerland. She kept saying how happy she was to see that Obama had become President and that Bush was out of office. "Bush not only ruined America," she said, "he reeked havoc on the entire world." Beyond her hatred of Bush, she had incredible insight into American politics. I asked what her advice would be for Americans, on our new journey with President Obama. "I just hope that people realize Obama's not a magician. He can't snap his fingers and make the world instantly better. He can help lead your country to a better place, but it's up to you to get the work done."
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