Saturday, January 24, 2009

Returning to normal

I’m back in Jasper, Ind., still recovering.

It's Saturday morning, after 3 a.m. Yes, it's taken me THIS long to recover and get the rest of my thoughts together. :-) A lot happened in those few days in D.C. The urgency and hurriedness (is that a word?) of it all took a lot out of me.
When the troop and I got back and got home Wednesday night, I left a bag in Jarrod's truck and I have two of his newspapers. We both got papers to keep as souvenirs.
I still haven't made arrangements to get that bag. Oops. Maybe I'll see him at church on Sunday.

This will be my last post for this blog. But I’ll leave up for as long as it stays - maybe until infinity? :-)
Here are some other pictures from my trip that I didn’t include in the other entries.

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I tried to go to the Newseum, remember? I didn’t get a chance to go back, but I did take some photos outside of the huge building:


This was my group of Obama friends riding with me on the train to the Inauguration:
Yes, they were THAT close.

Here’s a shot of Aretha Franklin singing “My Country Tis O Thee”:

And here’s Vice President Biden being sworn in:

And this is Rev. Lowery giving his stirring benediction:
He almost had people in the audience shouting, for real! I was giving him props during it. Although I like President Obama’s speech, that benediction was the best part for me - I could feel that in my bones. :-)

This is a picture of the departing helicopter with former President and Mrs. Bush in it:
Notice the fists pumping in the air. As soon as the helicopter came over the U.S. Capitol, people started cheering!

As I walked to the already crowded metro station, I stopped to take a pic in front of the Supreme Court:


Now that all the excitement is over, I’m left wondering what will happen in the next four years. President Obama has a lot to deal with now. He’s going to need our support in this. That’s not to say that we have to agree with everything he does, because we won’t. But he is our president now. And like all other presidents before him, he deserves our respect and our help. He’s not going to be able to fix everything by himself.

Before I go, I wanted to thank some folks who helped me get to D.C. and through this whole ordeal:

To Mr. and Mrs. Gleason: Thank you for letting me stay at your house and offering to feed me. I would have eaten more at any other time. But I was just too excited! So that's why I didn’t eat much overall. I knew I wouldn't starve, though. :-) Thank you so much.

To Dave: My chauffeur. My cook. Your hospitality went well beyond ANY hotel I’ve ever been to. You didn’t have to do a thing, and yet you made sure I was OK. I really appreciate you for that. And Stella was cool too.
(Dave and Stella)


To Jarrod, Judy and Kiersten: Thanks for letting me ride with you and for putting up with me. The trip was fun. It was nice to have like-minded Christians as traveling companions.
And Scooby, you are such an adorable goofball! Thanks for the entertainment and the company.
(Judy, Jarrod and Scooby)


To Allen and Colleen: You were so very nice to me. I appreciate you letting me sleep overnight at your house and using your computer to file a story. And it was very nice of you to offer me sleeping accommodations for my trip. If I hadn’t already made other arrangements, I would have taken you up on that. Oh, and the vegetable soup was wonderful!
(Colleen and Allen)


To Zach, Kathy and Bob: Your help, the maps and Monday night party made my trip even more enjoyable. Thank you.
(Kathy and Zach)


To Martha, my editor and, more importantly, my friend: Thank you for working with me on my stories for the paper. Your willingness to get up reeeeeally early to edit my stories, you helping me translate my experience into adequate words and you letting me call you at any time of the night made the writing process a lot easier. And your support at the very beginning — as soon as I found out I had a ticket, you were the one declaring, “You have to go” when I wasn’t so sure if I could — was a blessing. Thanks, friend.

To The Herald: Thanks for letting me go those three days! This is an experience I will NEVER, EVER forget, for the rest of my life.

To everyone who has been sending me encouraging words and thoughts: Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! When I started this blog, I really didn’t think very many people would read it. But then people added themselves as followers, and many more sent me personal e-mails to my Facebook and Hotmail accounts. So thanks for checking this out.



Well, that’s it. We’ll see how President Obama does in the next four years. I hope that we all do our part to help him and help our country get through these tough times.

Stay peaceful, y’all.

- Candy

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing your journey. I loved your pictures and your point of view...glad you made the trip to document it for all of us who couldn't be there. Take care, Tamala

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