visit

it was a cold and rainy morning here in walpole, but despite this, matt and i made a last minute decision, got in the car, drove 45 minutes, found out the lunch place didn't open until noon, picked up michele and adria, walked down slushy sidewalks and through unavoidable puddles, and stood in a line for THREE HOURS with naught but a few almonds to sustain us, only to be told there was no more room. but as we were turning to leave, frozen, sodden, and disappointed, a steel barricade was placed in our path and suddenly, we were in the very front row.

and then we watched the secret service guys rally, the bomb-sniffing dog sweep the site, the rain start to pick up, and the press hover under a tree. and finally, a line of SUVs pulled up, some with the doors opening and men jumping out of the trunks and seats before they even stopped and everyone was screaming and cheering and then...

unfortunately, the only camera we had was matt's cell phone and he doesn't know quite how to aim the thing, but he did manage to capture this image of a couple of pissed-off secret service guys, one super-excited fan, and the chin of our future president:

obama spoke to the crowd for just a few minutes and paused to shake a few hands before heading in to talk to the 5,000 people who managed to arrive early enough to actually earn admission into the building. quite frankly, i think the whole day worked out pretty nicely for us.

and when we finally made it back there around 3:30, the lunch place was still open.