once in a life time

Tonight Titus and I went downtown for the Obama Townhall gathering at the Municipal Auditorium (home to more NCAA tournament basketball games than any other venue in the USA). We stood in line for a LONG time and barely made the cut off to get into the building. Much to our pleasant surprise, as we filed into the mezzanine, our friends Laura & Nathanael were suddenly at our side!

Since we were about 5 rows deep, our view of the rostrum was totally blocked. So, operating under the "ask for forgiveness not permission" motto, Titus and I headed down to the level below. There we were met by a Missouri law enforcement officer who stopped us from going into the auditorium. This area was for press only. But, he took pity on us and offered to find a place for us. After checking with a Secret Service agent, he gave us the nod and mouthed "go on in".

Being so familiar with Barack's campaign, I didn't find the speech particularly inspiring or invigorating - mostly it was a repeat of what we've heard from him for months now. But it was still cool to be there and feel the energy of thousands of Kansas Citians determined to bring about change from the bottom up.

It had taken some coaxing to get Titus to even agree to go with me. But after some explanation and some videos on YouTube, Titus understood that this was a pretty cool opportunity.

Now, nothing against my dear husband, but if he had been along, the night would have been completely different. (Ray had a meeting and couldn't go, much to his dismay.) I'm a bit of a selfish rebel at times. I get what I'm after. And I was after a handshake and autograph from Senator Obama, the next president of the United States.

I had overheard a mother with a volunteer badge telling her 10 year old sons that after the speech they were to go over by a certain pillar and then they would line up and meet Barack. After asking one person if there was a line somewhere to meet Obama and getting an "I don't know", I decided to follow the mom.

I've always wanted to try the "if you act like you belong where you are, no one will know the difference" routine. So, we lined up and filed into a back room where about 40 volunteers gathered for a picture with Barack. I did 'fess up. Adding that I've been offering to volunteer via email but have not had any contact back even after a personal plea to call me soon. People were kind and poo-pooed my self asserted label of interloper.

Anyway, the end of the story is that some nice lady took my Audacity to Hope book and got it signed by "The Man", Titus and I both shook "The Man's" hand, we're in a group picture with him that will be emailed to us later, and Titus had his hair tousled by the next POTUS.

Truly a night to remember.