COMMANDER IN CHIEF INAUGURAL BALL
This particular event was the icing on our cake. This was the cherry on top of an amazing sundae. However, up until 5.30 pm on this day, we weren't sure we would get the chance to attend any ball. So, I begin with the story that got us here.
Angela and I began trying from the day after the election until the day we left to get two things...Inauguration Tickets & Inaugural Ball Tickets. Many of you saw the e-mails and Facebook pleas for any assistance. We ran into brick wall after brick wall. When we got our letter back from Congressman Boyd's office (our local Representative), we shifted our plan away from trying to get into the ticketed area and just planned on getting to the Mall. That ended up working out great! However, we continued to hold out hope we could score a ticket to a ball. I mean, there were so many! We looked at the Florida Ball, Kentucky Ball, Virginia Ball, Illinois Ball, Heroes Ball, etc. Ang actually went onto Craigslist and eBay and placed bids on a couple of sets. Thank goodness none or our bids were accepted! (We just couldn't get our minds around spending $300-$500 per ticket.) We found out the week before the inauguration how the conterfeiters were out in force, and you didn't really know how to tell the tickets apart.
Ang found out by online research that the Commander in Chief Ball tickets were just being released to active and reserve military personel the week before. She found some phone numbers for me to call. I called up to the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve (OCAR) and spoke to the Deputy Commander. He told me the tickets were free to select personel and that they were released to the down units that Tuesday. Ang quickly found a contact name and e-mail. Now, I'm still in the Individual Ready Reserve. I don't go on active duty till March, and I've not yet served in support of one of our wars. So, I called my brother Joe in Kentucky. He's a CPT in the Army Reserves and he'd been deployed 2 years ago in support of the Global War on Terror (GWOT). He filled out the application and e-mailed it to the contact. He got a call back saying he was eligible with guest and the tickets were coming to him. They were going to overnight the tickets to him on Saturday to Kentucky. Well....they didn't go out overnight with Saturday delivery, so they got to him on Monday. No problem. He went right to FedEx to overnight them back. One big problem...because they were shutting down the roads in and out of DC for the inauguration, nobody could guarantee delivery on Tuesday. We were just inside the circle of no delivery guarantee. Not a lot of good they would do us on Wednesday. :) Chris was quick to jump in with a plan. He had a friend in Alexandria, VA, just right across the Potomac River and outside the lock down zone. We had Joe send them there. Pins and needles Monday night and all day Tuesday. I tracked the package on my Blackberry. Without a hitch FedEx did what they do and delivered the tickets Tuesday early afternoon. Next problem....how to get to Alexandria? We planned to ride the Metro over and back, but realized walking out of the inauguration how many people would be riding out at the same time. We talked about getting Chris' car, but it was parked blocks away and traffic out was surely horrendous. How do we get out and back in time? Well, host, party planner, cruise director, and now shipping coordinator, Chris LaFon, pulled off another miracle. He was going to a Inaugural Party that night and had invited a friend. That friend had been at the inauguration, but just happened to live in Alexandria just down the street from the friend that had the tickets. He called her and asked to swing by and grab the tickets to bring with her into DC. At 5.30pm, those tickets walked in the door. Good thing. We were all decked out. Me in my Dress Mess and Angela in her gown. :)
The ball was being held not even a block from our apartment. After thanking our benefactors over and over (We can probably never thank them, especially Chris, enough times), we walked over to the ball. The entire street system around the National Building Museum was blocked off by security. The picture to the left was the first one we talk after coming through security and checking our coats. (It was absolutely freezing by this time.)
Angela and I are both great believers in positive energy breeds positive energy. We believe that God does have a plan for each of us, but that it's our responsibility to do right by those we come in contact with us each day and that positive energy will return to you. We had our doubts about how things would work during this trip, but every time we expressed a doubt someone said.."Don't worry. Everything's going to work out great." and we believed. This entire trip was a true testament. I don't think I've ever been involved with something that started out so all over the place and ended up so perfect. From the reschedule of our flight from 10.00a to 6.00a, so that we got to hang out with Melissa (Angela's sister) and have lunch with Angela's very good friend, Joe Kondovski, to Chris with his great location and incredible hospitality, to the inauguration event of a lifetime, to getting tickets to the one ball we wanted so badly to attend. Man....I've got a lump in my throat just writing this down.
Thank you to everyone that made this possible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you God for watching over us and surrounding us with such incredibly wonderful people.
On to the ball.......this particular ball was one of the 10 "official balls" that the President and First Lady were planning on attending. The ball was put together by the SGMs of each of the armed services. The intent was to honor the military service of the younger/lower ranking soldiers. Most of the attendees were MAJ/CPTs and below from the officer side and SFC/SSGs and below on the enlisted side. This is my first video after our arrival.
It was pretty laid back at first. We wandered around the hall to get a feel of everything. There was a large stage for entertainment on the east side of the hall that's shown in the video above. The podium and stage for the "special visitors" was in the center with a small sitting area. All those seats were filled and the stage was surrounded already when we go there. The west end was set-up with small tables and a place to take an "official photo". We got cocktails and decided to get in line for a picture. We got into some great conversations with a number of soldiers, sailors and airmen. An Air Force couple stopped me to ask about my uniform and what the colors on my lapels were for. The dress mess is a pretty distinct uniform. It's like a tuxedo for the military, but each branch is distinctly different. I'd never worn it to a function with every branch of service, and didn't realize it was so interesting. :) We started into many really cool conversations just about my uniform. Anyway, we stood in line for pictures and got to talk to a young Marine (SGT) who was the date of young Navy sailor. She had been part of the parade. We thought we'd had it tough. She'd gotten up at 1:30am to be there by 3am to get ready for the parade. The parade didn't begin until after 4pm. She was definitely tired, but so excited to be there.
Just as we finished getting our picture taken, the first celebrity appeared. George Lopez, comedian, was the master of ceremonies for the event. He started warming up the crowd. The next thing we knew, Jordan Sparks of Americna Idol fame was on stage. We ran over and joined the dancing crowd.
This is about the time we started the "bump intos". I bumped into the Chief of the Air Force and Chief of the Army, introduced myself, and then shook their hands. We wandered over to the NBC station, where Ann Curry was reporting. Angela is a big fan of Ann's from the Today show 
and wanted to meet her. While waiting, I notice the new National Security Advisor, General James Jones (Ret.), and went over to shake his hand. This was our first encounter with a Obama Administration official. I was really excited, because I have a ton of respect for him. We then "bumped into" his son. His name was Kevin Jones and he was a twin, so just like that we had something to talk about. We ended up meeting his twin brother, his wife, his older brother, and his Mom. In fact, we were so engaged in our conversation, we were surprised when Joe Biden walked out onto the stage behind.
http://www.truveo.com/Biden-cheered-at-Commander-in-Chief-ball/id/512697705
You can see in the clip from NBC News above down in the lower left corner there's a tall young man talking to someone to his left. That's us! We just weren't tall enough to get caught on TV. Angela and I are there talking to Kevin and his Mom. He and his brothers remind me of my
brothers. I asked him how many balls they were going to hit and he said that this was the only
one. Interesting.....After Vice President Biden was finished speaking, had danced with his wife, and they had left. Kevin asked us if we wanted to get a picture with his Dad. My answer was ABSOLUTELY! He led us over to where General Jones was standing. He just happened to
be talking to be talking to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen. Kevin politely interupted and asked if he'd take a picture of us. His Dad gave him this "just a minute" look that I've had many times myself. The Admiral then made a joke about he was one of the few people that could interupt his conversation. Very funny, but very intimidating too. This is the picture taken by Kevin right after that. (Note Jordan Sparks in the background.)
The energy was just flowing through the hall now. Angela was really in heavan. So many people to talk to, so little time. We moved back to the dance floor to listen to Jordan Sparks sing her new song dedicated to military personel for the first time. We then got wind from the NBC folks that Obama was about 20 minutes away. We moved over towards the main center stage to try and get a good spot. Then what should happen, but Jon Bon Jovi walks onto the entertainment stage. We ran back over to see him. He did one song and then said that someone a little more important than him had just arrived. We hustled back over the the center stage. I had to run to the restroom (of course), so I left Ang to find us a spot. When I came back, the color guard was marching onto the stage. Ang was buried in the crowd by this time, so I had to work my way in. The SGMs all marched on to the stage and lined up. The Marine Corp Band belted out Ruffles and Flourishes, and then.....Hail to the Chief. The place went beserk as the President of the United States walked onto the stage not 30 feet from where we were standing.
We were 30 feet from the President of the United States. You can see in the pictures and videos the sea of cameras and video cameras that were being held up. He gave his one prepared speech of the inaugural ball evening. Reading smoothly from the teleprompter (It's amazing what you notice that close), he thanked the troops and spoke a little bit about his vision for the future. Very cool. He then turned to the Jumbotron and spoke to a group of Illinois National Guardsmen in Afghanistan. Vice President Biden had spoke to troops in Iraq earlier. You could tell he wasn't used to the delay going through the video feed. He and the CSM kept talking over each other at the beginning. It was a really cool "human" moment. They got it down pretty quickly. President Obama asked each soldier to introduce him/herself, and to tell him whether they were Cubs fans or White Sox fans. Outside of the CSM in charge of the group, there was only one other White Sox fan and she was at the end of the line. It was really funny. Kind of like me asking if they were UK fans or UofL fans. Keep trying until you find one and then make the biggest deal. :) Everyone got a real kick out of the exchange.
Then it was time for the First Couple dance. He introduced the First Lady and when she came out the place went nuts! Especially the ladies! Angela kept saying over and over how beautiful she looked, and she did! The dress, her grace, her energy, her smile...she really did look amazing. The relationship they have is really cool. It's obvious he adores her. You could just see the little things when you were that close.
They danced to the Marine Corp Band for a bit and then if we didn't have enough highlights, they added another one. The brought up a female soldier and a male Marine to dance with the First Couple. Talk about a highlight. The soldier was weeping as she climbed the stairs before she even got to the President, but then you could see him put her at ease and see her smile from ear to ear. The Marine was a Marine of course showing little emotion, but it was kind of cute watching him dance with Michelle. He was about a half a head shorter. :) They finished up the dance and headed out to another huge roar. We found out later that the Commander in Chief Ball was supposed to be their last stop originally, but the delays had put them so far behind that they didn't want to have the soldiers waiting until 1am-2am for them.
What do you do after that? Well, you go back and dance to Jon Bon Jovi. He came back on stage and lit the place up with "Living on a Prayer". I felt like I was at a high school dance, only instead of a DJ or a band....we really got to dance to Bon Jovi! He finished up and started to head off stage when we started chanting, "One more song. One more song.". He laughed, picked up the mike and said, "How can I say no?". The place erupted. Of course, he rolled out "Wanted Dead or Alive". I had tears in my eyes. 30 feet from President Barack Obama. 10 feet from Jon Bon Jovi performing. What a night! This picture on the right was taken by a couple we were dancing with. Yep! That's Bon Jovi behind us!
Bon Jovi finished up. We took a breath and got a drink. Then out trotted Chris Tucker. He had us laughing like crazy. He then introduces Smokey Robinson. Nice! We danced and sang along with Smokey in the flesh.
We still had one piece of unfinished business. Angela had not gotten a chance to meet Ann Curry. We walked over to NBC and just caught her after an interview. She'd just finished interviewing the soldier that had danced with the President.
You could tell she was absolutely exhausted, but she was a sweet as she could be. She said she'd
been up since like 3am, but she stooped down from the raised platform she was reporting from and talked in great length with us. Ang really love it. She told us she came from a military famliy and she had so much love and respect for the military. She shook and then kissed my hand and then kissed Ang. It was really touching. You know it's really neat to see people that we're so used to seeing on TV and as celebrities and see that they're just people. They're proud Americans just like we are. Of course, we got another picture!
Things were starting to wind down. It was right around 11pm. We ran into Kevin Jones again. He'd been tasked with rounding the Jones family up to leave. He was having a hard time, because he's so social, he'd stop to talk to everyone. The SGMs came up on the entertainment stage and gave their farewell "hoorahs!". This wonderful night was over, and it was time to leave. We kind of lingered at the exit, not wanting for it to end.
We walked out into bitter, bitter cold. If it was a degree above 0, I'd be surprised. We talked and walked watching our breath. We were still in shock that two people like us had and opportunity like that.
I remember early in the eveing looking around at all the soldiers. I noticed all the Purple Heart recipients. (We learned later from Ann Curry that there were about 300 of them there and about 30 or so wounded soldiers over from Walter Reed.) I noticed the wounded soldiers. They'd all dressed in their dress uniforms. I remember the looks on their faces. The joy. The pride. I remember saying to myself. "These young men and women are so proud to be Americans." This event really helped renew my pride for the armed services and my pride for my service. I remember coming to that final realization that this is why we do this. This country is why we do this. The right to live our lives like this. The right to elect an African American President. The piece of mind that we have for the safety of our families. I remember thinking about all the soldiers before from the beginning, through the World Wars, to now. I remember thinking about why they were willing to lay their lives on the line. It all came so clear to me. They fought for me and my children. I will do the same.
Thank you all that served before me, and a special thank you to my grandfather, who served in WWII, my father, who served in Vietnam, and my brother, we was just recently deployed in the Global War on Terror. I will honor all of you with my service and my devotion.
This is a small snapshot of what we ran into at the airport. The line to check a bag coiled up into itself over and over again. There was a skycap check, but that line was huge too and it was cold! But, we were 3 hours early, so we cheerfully got into line. 2 hours later, we were a little nervous. We found out that if you didn't have to check bags, there was another shorter line, but with our ball gown, uniform, and cold weather gear, we had no choice. We got our boarding pass and headed to security a little before 10.00am. We were really nervous at this time, but security was 
no sweat. Apparently, the bottle neck was all at the bag check area. We chatted with one of the security officers that was just giddy. He'd seen more celebrities come through that morning than he'd seen in his life and he was having a ball. In fact, Don King (boxing promoter with the big hair) was going through right next to us. I tried to grab my camera after going through security to catch a picture, but was to slow. Big guy just talking up a storm to everyone, just like he does on TV. Really funny!
We got to our flight right before boarding. It's funny, even with the long lines, people missing flights, etc., everyone is still just so happy. You could tell most everyone was tired (See happy/tired picture of Ang to the left), but there is such a sense of optomism and joy all around. We're happy to leave the cold and the crowds, but we're going to miss the energy. Let's hope we can bring some of this back home to the Florida Panhandle! The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. Long lay over again in Charlotte, but a chance to read and rest. Arrived in Pensacola a little before 6.00pm. Surprise! It's cold here to!
Great to get home and see the kids again. We really miss them every time we travel. It won't be to long before we can start doing trips like this with them. Can't wait! Gave them their sourvenirs that of course they just had to put on. One last picture of the trip. Yes, we have brainwashed them. :)
This is a shot from the Lincoln Memorial back up the Mall towards the Washington Monument. Time to head back to the apartment. We're going to try and catch the Metro.
We then went from the museum over to the Mall. The biggest indication of what's gettting ready to happen were the amount of "Porta Potties" that they have set up for this event. We walked over to the Capital area. I wanted to walk to the Lincoln Memorial, so we did. We went past the Washington Monument and then over to the World War II Memorial. That was the 1st time that Angela and I had seen this memorial. Awesome!
The line out the door was probably 200-300 feet long, but the enthusiasim was incredible. We went into the Next Door, which was the place owned by the same owners of Bens Chili Bowl right next door. We sat at the bar and watched the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens. The energy through the place just gave me cold chills. Black, White, Asian, etc....we just had a great time talking to everyone. The energy flowing. The vibe. It's just amazing. I've got cold chills that just won't go away. The happiness. The fun. The love. We're having fun with so many people that are so incredibly happy.
