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Staggering out of our Columbia Heights townhome into the inky cold, we made our way to the Metro, and unbelievably found plenty of room for a ride into town. Our arrival at a downtown station was brutal.

You see on this blog the photo of "Human Gridlock". It was totally crazy. From the train platforms, to the escalators and stairwells, people moved at glacial pace, cheek to jowl, shoulder to shoulder, packed like sardines.

After 45 harried minutes navigating an exit that would normally take 3 minutes, we began the hike to our ticket entry area on the Washington Mall. Our security screening, frankly, was very cursory- an officer simply and lightly patted me down. There were NO metal detectors, NO police dogs, NO officers on horseback, and we cleared security in less than 5 minutes.

We slowly made our way as close to the Capitol Building as we could get, just 100 feet from the reflecting pond in front of the Capitol. The crowd was as warm, as the weather was cold. A nearby onlooker said her handheld device registered temps (with ) as low as 7 degrees!

It was brutally cold, but the sights and sounds, and the gravity of the event was something we'll never forget.

After the ceremony, we walked a circuitous route to the 3rd Street underpass (actually an interstate freeway closed for the day), under the Capitol Mall, and made our way to the Willard Hotel near the White House. This 1 hour hike (Larry called it a Hurricane Katrina-type exodus), was arduous, to say the least. Our tickets to the New York State Luncheon provided Larry and me with our first food and water of the day (nearly 8 hours!) Governor David Paterson briefly address the crowd, and the warm feelings of the day continued.

The Willard's mens rooms ran out of toilet paper- not a pretty sight, and pretty much all systems were stressed. But our concerns of cellphone tower overloads, of trauma and injury of spectators, and general pandemonium... NONE of it occurred. It was as drama-filled as expected, but in a moving way.

I cried, along with millions.

Let's pray that our new leaders can heal our country, and be a shining example to the nations of the world. And that we see emotional, fiscal, and moral healing in the coming months and years.

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