Memorial Day Weekend (Obama-rama)

Memorial Day Weekend was absolutely the coolest time to be in Washington D.C. Sunday night we went to a concert on the lawn of the Capitol featuring Gary Sinise  and some other guy along with a bunch of really cool singers. They alternated music with personal stories of people who had lost loved ones in war and people who had experienced debilitating injuries.
You all know my somewhat hesitant attitude to war and the military, but people have paid enormous sacrifices  simply for the sake of our national interests. Many have been incredibly brave and honorable at great personal cost.

We spent a lot of time this weekend visiting places like the Washington Monument, the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, and Arlington National Cemetery, just to name a few. My favorite part was the wreaths, poems, notes, pictures and beer cans that, yes, adorn the memorials all year round, but flourish in profusion on Memorial Day.

Most of the notes were memories of loved ones, some were poems urging greater patriotism, some (mostly at the Vietnam memorial) reprimanded America and reflected bitterness in the wake of how soldiers were (are) treated post-war. I liked thinking about the people whose stories were for just a moment visible.

And okay, the moment I know you have all been waiting for--how I saw Barack Obama (I started the title of my blog as kind of a joke long before I thought I would actually see Obama, but I think I'll keep it for a while, because it makes me smile).
So, my roommates really, really wanted to go to the wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider on Monday...I thought it would be cool, but mostly I just went along for the ride. Well, somewhere in there, somebody found out that BARACK OBAMA was gonna be there and talk to us!!!

This is about where we were sitting. Maybe like 500 people there? Not too many. 

So we got there around 8.30 in the morning, sat in the hot hot hot sun for about 2 hours and got a really bad sunburn, just to get a picture of this:

that's Michelle Obama in the blue dress in the middle. 

I really don't mean to downplay how cool it was. My roommates have a couple much sweeter pictures where you can see Barack MUCH clearer, unfortunately my camera is not that good. Yes, it was very hot. But the ceremony was heartfelt, and I really thought it was cool to see the First Couple my first week in Washington.