The "I Attended The 20th Anniversary March in Washington", edition.

iPod shuffled to Kool and the Gang, "Summer Madness".  U of M freshman year. This is how Kool and the Gang are supposed to sound. I hated the turn they took with JT Taylor.  However, it certainly made them mainstream. So yeah, I was in Washington DC in the summer of 1983. I had just finished and internship with the government at the David W Taylor Naval Research and Development Center in Potomac, Maryland. ( mouthful, wasn't it? ).  I was offered a job when the internship was completed.  The people who participated in the program went back to their homes, except a few of us.

My friend Mike and I decided to attend the 20th anniversary March.  Now bear with me, this 30 years ago. I remember some stuff and forget some stuff. I'll say Mike was a White guy, but I don't think it's important. We were friends. :).  I lived in Alexandria, he. Lived in Gaithersburg.  Since I was the one with the car, I went to get him, and the drove into DC to find a parking space.  I think I parked near the train station. Parking was free back then!  

We walked to the mall. I'd never seen so many people in one place in my life. People were in trees.  People were perched on street lights (!).  I recall we tried to get as close to the speakers as possible. I recall skirting around the Reflecting Pool. I recall the crowd getting denser and denser as we pressed forward.  We got to the point where we could go no further. We still couldn't hear the speakers. About this time I started felling faint. :-(   Mike let those know around me that I was having a problem.  Well guess what happened?  The crowd lifted me up and passed me up over their heads to the first aid area!!!  Mike was right there with me. Rofl. The first aid area was right next to the stage.  I got some water and cold compresses...and we were able to hear the speeches. "Just Gets Better With Time", The Whispers.  On the album, "Greatest Slow Jams".  Yep. :-)   I wish I remembered more. But I was there and I think that in of itself was important. 

On a side note, but a tie in with The Mall.  Shawn was attending Howard when President Obama was elected and inaugurated. She applied to volunteer for some inauguration activities. She was accepted and given super secret squirrel security clearance (!!!!). She ended up at the kids concert, in close proximity to the First Lady and the daughters (!!). She and her friends also walked from campus to the inauguration. The students from the north were dressed for the weather.  The ones from the south didn't understand cold. Lol. Look, the walk from Howard to the Capital is no joke, and the crowd was massive. The kids had to navigate  lines for the inauguration or the parade. The crowds and weather won. They went back to campus and watched the rest on TV. They get massive points for trying <3. 

Lol, this entry is not quite what I planned, but here we are. I'll give a dialysis tie in. Actually I got nothing that relates to the stories, but I'll give you this. I got a pedicure yesterday, and fell asleep in the chair waiting for my toes to dry.  Yet I can't fall asleep in my heated recliner at dialysis?  What's that about?  Lol.  Also, I don't know if it'll be shown again, but PBS had a great documentary, "The March". It was about the planning and behind the scenes activities of the original march with Martin Luther King.  We were kids in 1963. I learned a lot.  Have a great Wednesday.  Signing off with "Cool Jerk", The Capitols. Admit it, you know the lyrics. "...aw, deep down inside they know I'm cool.."