.... My plan at the moment after letting the Earlham DC grew that i was cumming to town and asking what they were all up 2. i got a hold Katherine Maria Sophia Lord a dear friend and we planned to watch the inaugural on tv either at her house or in a little cafe and then go to watch the parade.

Nine am the next morning Paul and his daughter drop me off at the metro station and the day began. as i waited the hour or so to broad the train, the love fest began. hundreds of people from around the country waiting in the morning cold 2 see and hear Barrack Obama be sworn in as our 44 president . there was singing and chanting and some frustration as 2 why the trains were not moving. seems as though people downtown had clogged the system delaying trains from getting out side of the city to the ends of the metro lines in the burbs. and being at the end of the line we were kind of shit outta luck. so there we were with the beginning of grumbling, but as long as i made it up 2 Katherine's in time to watch the speech and swearing in on tv i felt i was in good shape. till i get a call (one of the only calls i made or received that day)seems Katherine finagled a last minute ticket onto the mall. so dang no plans. i try to call shawn no answer and no response 2 my texts. i'm on my own.

as myself and the rest of the crowd around me gets into the metro station. we filled the train to the bursting point. there was a warmth and love from people giving up and sharing seats holding open doors helping to brace people so they wouldn't fall. it was the loaves and fishes happening before my very eyes. and i had to share that feeling with someone anyone so i sent a simple three word text to everyone in my phone "i love u". i should have thought twice or thought at all. i had neglected to tell most people that i was going to DC that day, and when most saw my text they thought something was wrong. when people started texting back "are u ok" "wat's wrong" and the like and they get no response back from me (cell service was crap that day) people thought the worst. almost everyone i know,best knew i was not in the best of mental states and those simple words could cause a bit of an uproar. i was too lost in the love fest i was surrounded by that i could not understand why anyone would thing something was wrong. there was so much joy and happiness in the the streets on the train on the mall that there was no way i could not share that with the people who mean the most to me. and i like Renee Zelwiger continued to fallow the people.

i got off the metro with a large crowd and just began 2 walk. listen as the cops and national guards' men directed us to open streets and intersections. the streets were filled and filling up. i pressed on and finally hit the mall, geese swimming in a pond beside the the world war II monument and if i would have had that time i would have stopped and wondered around. but they were introducing former presidents in cumming cabinet members and honored heads of state. 4 a brief moment i stopped and gathered a glance of our newly elected on a trio of jumbo-trons at the back slope of the washington monument. but there was more room up the hill and i wanted to be as close as i could be. so without knowing if there were anymore screens and not caring if there weren't. as long as i heard Barrack sworn in heard him speak and give us words to live by i would be ok fell this journey was worth while. as a portion of the crowd moved its way up the hill witch was already filled groups found little pockets and stopped. the few of us on our own climbed higher and higher winding in and out of families school and church groups and friends gather for the event. when i truly could move no closer an d the ceremony was about 2begin. i stopped a mere twenty or so feet from the foot of the washington monument. with the capital in full view and the white house off in the near distance. i watched as the sea of people filed in every inch of the national mall. on all four sides there were people as far as the eye could see. and i stood there alone taking in awe-inspiring magnitude of it all. here i am among's millions all gathered 4 the greatest feet of our lives that the son of an African exchanged student and a white girl from the mid-west has elected president and in a few short moments will be sworn in. a man who no more then fifty years ago would have been able 2 do little more then clean the building that he he now presides over. i stood there seeing the legacy of many many generations black white brown tan and red who have and continue 2 fight 4 social religious and economic equality. the many who have died not being able 2 see one of there dreams cum true. the two whom i thought of mostly my grandfather and my lover. both men looked 2 see a world where lives of all especially 4 the less fortunate were made better

my grandfather Eugene Caldwell grew of the one youngest of over ten children who mother died during child birth or soon there after and a father who abandoned them. he grew up hard but strong and by the time my brother and i came along he was shadow of his former self. broken by years of racism and just utter frustration he died homeless and an alcoholic. but as my mother and grandmother cleaned out the room they rented for him they found hundreds and hundreds of neatly clipped underlined and highlighted magazines and news paper articles as well as books on every African american man and woman with rising political socioeconomic power. Martin Malcolm Jesse Gates Walker Chisim Marshal. she ask what were 2 happen if he would have lived to see this day see what the dream was alive and becoming even more a reality. because i highly doubt my grandfather thought that in 25 years after he past his grandson would be living and in love with a skinny convert jew from upstate new york who was considered one of the best soul food chefs in dayton OH.

my partner Rob Fabia champion of the little guy. he wanted everyone 2 have a chance and was willing 2 do what ever he could 2 make sure of that. by opening restaurants not 4 his own fame and fortune but so people could have a job away 2 provide 4 themselves and families. he truly saw people as individuals each with desttions 2 make a path for themselves. and saw that if the country were 2 elect Obama it would not just be a monumental step 4 Americans of color but all Americans. rob saw this as a chance 4 people 2 finally cum together and let their inhabits and prepossess go. i consider him one of the last murders for the cause. he was kilt in a fire that was set just hours after the obama volunteers finished a night campaigning at the privet supper club we were running.

an here i stood at the foot of the washington monument with the sound of two million plus people jeering an out going regime and cheering 4 a president and government that as least as this junction seem 2 be looking 2 make this country not only great 4 a few but 4 all. standing alone overwhelmed with pride sadness joy pain fear delight excitement and anticipation 2 even begin 2 cry. i stood there alone knowing that crowd somewhere there were many of these whom i knew and loved. i stood there by myself sounded by those toking up, popping bottles of champagne flasks of brandy cans of MGD. husbands kissing wives, wives kissing wives , children kissed parents love was everywhere i looked around. and there i stood among it all alone euphoric in crowd of millions. anomous in a sea full of love piece and hair-grease. during the whole of the inaugural ceremony i felt at piece, something i hadn't felt in a long long time. and i was ever so glad 4 it 2 wash over me.

four hours of solitude and i was getting hungry