JUMPING AND "SHOUT"ING FOR JOY

Today was very, very cool. I started the day off at the Falls Church Presbitarian Church. We have been camping out in the basement anyway, but my group was assigned to stay for the services. Everyone there was extremely nice and we found some incredible stories. One woman, Patsy, had actually been an agent in the Secret Service for 20 years. She was the 8th woman to ever be in the Secret Service and the 1st woman to ever be permanently assigned to someone. She was the primary agent for George Bush Senior. We also interviewed a man who was friends with Collin Powell, John McCain, and many other important heads of state. He was very friendly and had great stories. Again, it is amazing the stories that the people you walk by every day have such incredible stories. 

Sophie, Harrison, Erin and I then went to Richards room at the Mandarin Oriental to hang out for a while before heading out to the red carpet of the Declare Yourself Ball. We blogged and explored the hotel and finally decided to trek down to the crowds of the mall for the We Are One concert. We got there and looked up at the screens to see Usher, Shakira and Stevie Wonder performing "Higher Ground". Then looking down, we saw hundreds of thousands of heads all staring in wonder at the Lincoln Memorial. We stayed to watch a performance of "Shout". Everyone was jumping up at the same parts in the song and singing at the top of their lungs. That was the first time that I really felt the unity of the people in Washington DC and the country. I know it may seem like a strange time to notice that, considering that I had already seen so many people come together, but it was the jumping and joy that really hit home for me. My group had started wandering back just as U2 came on. We turned around to see them performing City of Blinding Lights. A song that Obama loved but had never heard live. After the song, when Bono addressed Obama as "America's next President" my eyes flooded with tears. We stayed just long enough to see Barack speak and then rushed through the crowded streets to the hotel to put on our gowns. 

After dressing in a cloud of chaos, Harrison, Sophie, Jacob Sarah and I literally sprinted through the streets in our stockinged feet to make it to the ball in time. It was Cinderella all over again! We made it and got onto the carpet to interview Jamie Foxx, John Legend, Hayden Panettiere, Jessica Alba and Sarah Silverman. 

We got back into the hotel room at 11:30, just before we turned back into pumpkins, and ended up sleeping right on the floor of the room. OOF! Not the most comfortable thing in the world. We had a great night and it was fun to be back on the red carpet...... practice for the film fest. Nighnight!