Inauguration - Chapter 2

To begin Chapter 2, we have to go back four months in time. In mid-September, we had just arrived in the DC area and already people were telling us how exciting it will be here, come January. So with a rare stroke of foresight, we contacted the office of Jay Inslee, Congressman from the first district of Washington (where we lived for almost 30 years) and requested tickets to the swearing in ceremonies and/or other inaugural events. We were filled with great hope when the Congressman's aid wrote back that we were 5th on the list .... 5th!! We thought that put us in great position to get some tickets.

Fast forward to December. It seems that the election of one Barack Obama so excited the country that demand for tickets exploded. Alas, Mr. Inslee's office had to conduct a lottery, which rendered our great list position worthless. And to no surprise, we did not win in the lottery. : - (

I think Congressman Inslee felt bad about this - having raised our expectations only to dash them. So last week, we received a personal invitation to come meet the Congressman in his office on Monday, Jan 19. Oh, we were so excited that he was going to try and make amends!!!

Well, the joke was on us! We didn't get invited to a private meeting. Nooooo, it was an open house - an open house for anybody from his district who was in DC for the inauguration. And to make matters worse, this was the day that EVERYBODY in the US had to go get their inaugural tickets from their own congressman. The lines at the House Office buildings were LOOONNGGG! We had to wait over 30 minutes in line in the cold January weather just to get in to see Jay (and that was the short line). Here is Dan giving Jay Inslee a piece of his mind about the injustice and inconsiderability of it all:

Actually, while much of the story is true, this account may have exaggerated our frustration just a tad. We knew it was an open house, and we had a very nice, albeit brief, conversation with him. We really made nice. See how friendly we all look here?

After this, Jay's staff offered us donuts and coffee! What a deal!