What Did You Do Yesterday?

I spent part of my day with President Barack Obama yesterday.
What did you do?
Carol volunteers one day a week doing data entry for the re-election campaign. She drags her tired ass to campaign headquarters after working all day and puts in another three hours. She got tickets to the event. We got to hang with The Prez.
It was a surreal day on so many levels.
We put in an nine and a half hour effort to listen to the man speak for thirty minutes.
It was worth it.
Up at 6:00 a.m., out of the house at 7:00, one hour drive to the high school he was speaking at. We were on the grounds at 8:15, inside at 11:00, he made his appearance at 1:05.
One hell of a lot of waiting. In the car. Outside the building. Inside the building.
The car was swept with detection devices, looked into and under with mirrors, sniffed by bomb  sniffing dogs.
There were men on the roof of the building with binoculars. And guns. There were men cruising the perimeter of the woods surrounding the building with dogs. And guns.
There were stereotypical secret service guys - everywhere -  with black suits and ear devices. Police, firefighters, emergency rescue personnel from Windham and surrounding towns.
We walked through metal detectors and were wanded.
Surreal.
Standing outside in line, beginnings of boredom, and suddenly three military helicopters appear over the horizon and land close by on school property. Goosebumps. Followed thirty seconds later by a different type of helicopter which everyone assumed was The Prez. Turns out it wasn't, but we didn't know that and there was applause and excitement.
Almost in the building now and there was a noise eerily similar to a gun shot. Everything and everyone froze. Thousands stood in complete silence. Nervous. We never found out what it was. Security people went over to a rescue vehicle and took a look at it and were not concerned.
But that gives you a feel for the oddness of the whole atmosphere.
We walked into the gym and an aid tried to steer us to a section in the bleachers diagonally behind the podium where nobody else was sitting. All the other seats were taken. I refused because I did not put in all that effort to look at the back of the President's head. We were there early enough to stand within twenty feet of the podium, directly in front of it. I could not pass that up.
One hour and forty five minutes later, standing in stifling heat with sweat literally rolling down our backs and tall people in front of us, I was convinced I had made a fatally stupid decision. I felt so bad for my lovely wife who had wanted to take the seats.
Five minutes later we did not care. None of the hours long inconveniences mattered. The decision was the right one.
Because President Barack Obama stepped up to the podium and worked his magic. So close to us you could practically reach out and touch him. And we maneuvered around the tall people and got clear lines of sight.
Carol took a bunch of magnificent pictures, straight on to the man, which will forever commemorate our historic day.
I do not participate in mindless applause, mindless cheering. I applauded when I felt emotionally moved. I reserved the rest of my attention for the experience.
I stared at the man and was blown away by the fact that I could be so close to The President of the United States of America. Blown away by the magnitude of the office, the magnitude of the responsibility, the magnitude of his intelligence.  His unwavering commitment against all odds.
I marvelled at his speech even though I have listened to him thousands of times on TV. So much more powerful in person.
I made eye contact once or twice and expected him to recognize my passion, intelligence and verbal acuity and invite me up to say a few words. He didn't. That's the only time I questioned his judgement.
He was done half an hour later and I hung around with the futile hope of touching the man. He came down off the stage and shook hands with the front row. We couldn't get that close. But I stood on my toes and watched him work the crowd and I was like a kid at a rock concert desperate for contact with my group.
Even walking out of the gym I kept looking back over my shoulder to get one last look as he continued to shake hands.
When he was out of sight I felt a little down.
President Barack Obama is the first president in my lifetime that I feel is MY president. I have never felt this before. I feel a connection with him and a respect for him that makes me feel involved.
We got home at 3:30. I couldn't function. I tried to write and couldn't do it.
I was in bed at 9:30 and slept until 8:00 this morning.
That's the kind of day it was.
Carol and I stood twenty feet away from The President of the United States. I don't give a damn what your politics are, anybody would have to be blown away by that opportunity.
For us, as committed, informed, and passionate supporters, it was overwhelming, gratifying, emotional and lifetime memorable.
So what did you do yesterday?