I have this bucket list that I decided to make when I turned 50, albeit in my head and not a real written list, a bucket list nevertheless.
One of the things I accomplished on my bucket list, was to attend a Presidential Inauguration because it's part of history. I don't care what party you belong to, I just want to share my experience. The feeling in the air was so incredibly positive, and as I ponder on certain moments of my trip and goal to the Inauguration, I can't help but smile, laugh and smile some more.
Since Dave and I are both adventurous, we trekked on over to Alexandria to eat and take in the sights. On our way back we met a young man, who was so outgoing and this kid had major physical disabilities. As I got to know him just on that short Metro ride, you began to ignore his disabilities almost instantaneously.
He had such a great attitude. He was not sure of which Metro to take and when I inquired where he wanted to go, I immediately went into "Mom Mode" and told him to follow us because we were going off the same exit.
When we got off, we hugged, exchanged names, wished each other blessings and he turns around and said "You guys are the coolest Old Hippies, I've evermet". The only thing I can find negative of this exchange, was the word "OLD". Ok I'll let that go. At the end of this evening, all I could do was smile, laugh and smile some more.
The next day we started a different adventure to walk from our apartment to the White House and take in the different sites along the way. We got to the Capitol and sadly it was closed already. So I said to Dave, ok, Happy Hour it is. Let's find one.
So Dave whipped out his handy dandy smart phone and Voila! found us a Happy Hour to attend. I noticed these three beautiful ladies walking by and asked them if they knew where a certain street was located. One of them says, we're not from here, we are from Compton. I then yelled back, we're from Monrovia. We hooped and hollered and hugged and both said we are here for the Inauguration. They asked where we were sitting and I said, "Well that's why we want to go toa Happy Hour, so we can open our tickets over a glass of wine." I asked them if they would like to join us and they said yes. (See photo) Needless to say a good time was had by all and just this morning did I receive three nice text messages with them and let me share what one of the texts said.
Shirlee: It was God's Blessings that our paths crossed & now you and Dave are a part of my life experiences that make me smile - U will be in my heart.
Me: You will be forever in my heart too.
(A photo of the Martin Luther King Memorial was attached and then here is the greatest part of this text exchange)
Shirlee: Our meeting and time together is reflective of his life!
Wow, isn't that what we all want? I will not erase this text. It means too much to me. If I ever feel down, I will look at it and reflect upon our time together.
As our days approached the Inauguration Day, we had several positive exchanges with people. And yes, they all made me smile, laugh and smile some more. Now that the Inauguration day has passed and I fulfilled one of my goals on my ever growing bucket list, I realized there are some things that happen to you in life that should never be repeated because these type of experiences are unique and they should be their very own. Not only did I attend a part of history, I got to meet people that all want the same thing in life, to be happy and be treated equal and to smile and laugh and smile some more.
