inauguration ticket debacle

my boyfriend and I both secured tickets--in different sections--from our respective Representatives. After 2 ticket trades, we finally secured 2 coveted purple tickets!

We were not optimistic about being able to get in even with tickets and showed up at the purple ticket gate at 7:15, where we waited in line for 3 and a half hours squished together like sardines. Yet everyone was so excited, so happy that this wasn't so bad and it was great to feel the positive energy of the huge mass. Jessie Jackson walked 4 feet away from us! A girl fainted and doctors in the crowd quickly showed up to help her out. Everyone worked together to make a space for her to get to the ambulance.

Then it was 10:30 and people started to worry we couldn't get in at all. Rumors started spreading that the gate was closed because of a security breach. People climbed trees to see what was happening. No one was moving. A friend with a purple ticket that show up at 8:30 has slipped in in front of the huge crowd, no problem, but we were trapped.

Finally, we worked our way up to the gate. No one was getting in and no one knew what was happening. We moved as far as we could and got onto the parade route, we could see the capitol lawn from there, that's where we're supposed to be! So close yet so unreachable!

Around 11 we decided the most important thing was to hear Obama's speech and decided to watch it on TV at FCNL. On our way to FCNL, we decided to try for the yellow ticket gate on a whim. WE MADE IT THROUGH IN 10 MINUTES, NO PROBLEM! and skipped onto the capitol lawn. We made it in minutes before the invocation.

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