Inaugural Anxiety

Inaugural is a tricky word to spell. Like the word nuclear, it is mispronounced so often, that you actually have to use the second grade method of sounding out the word as you write it. For an adult like me, that can be pretty embarrassing. As I struggle with spelling, the District of Columbia is struggling with the task of trying to stage a swearing-in ceremony, a short parade, and a lot of formal dances. They are also struggling with a lot of visitors, something like 5 million, which may not seem like a lot in a city the size of Chicago, but DC is much smaller. Next Tuesday the entire city will be in lockdown, major roads will be closed, traffic will slow to a standstill. The Metro will be jam packed, which will be very unpleasant for me, I am short, and in a crowd, my face is level with many people's armpits.


I don't know about you, but I am anxious to get this thing done, get the thing official, dot the i's and cross the t's. It seems as if this event has taken a decade, and these last remaining days are just dragging on painfully. As Marigolds said, the count is down to 3 days, hard to believe, after all of these years, but we are nearly at the beginning of a new America. I'm saying this with a note of optimism that I don't completely feel, but maybe on Tuesday, after all of this is a done deal, and my ball outfit is spotted with spilled champagne and my feet ache from dancing all night, and Bush and Cheney get on the freaking plane to Texas, I will finally feel the hope that the rest of the country is feeling.

Today, I'm worried that on Tuesday, my employees won't be able to get to work, or that the Metro will break down, or that the city will be so overloaded with people, that Obama won't be able to get near the Capital to get sworn in. But a friend of mine just called me from her job at Department of ------, and she was singing, because as I write, the pictures of Bush and Satan are being taken down early, just in case.....she explained that since the Federal Government is officially closed on Monday, and no one who works for the Federal Government will be able to get anywhere near their offices on Tuesday, today is the last official day of the Bush Presidency.

The waiting is over. Let the celebrations begin.

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