I Received My Invite to the Inauguration!

I grabbed my mail as I walked out of the apartment building yesterday.  I was on my way to our house to meet up with my erstwhile spouse and our son, 19, who would be driving back to his college town after dinner.  I set the mail on my car seat and forgot about until the festivities were over.

When I got around to opening the mail later, I was curious about a large 9x12 envelope.  I've been getting a lot of calendars and requests for charitable contributions, etc., but this looked like something else.  As I open the seal, I see that the enclosure is on heavy card stock, and has an embossed gold seal!

"You are cordially invited..." it begins.  What!  I see the words "Inauguration"... "January 20th, 2009"... whoa!  I've never been invited to anything!  I usually have to find out about family events through some word-on-the-street network!

Actually, it's about time!  I contributed more to this election campaign than all previous elections combined!  (Truthfully, I passed that milestone after the first dollar, but that's beside the point.)  I'm not sure how many of these were sent out, and they were sent by the Inaugural Committee, not the Obama Campaign, so there may not be any connection.

I guess there are going to be a couple million people attending, in one form or another.  Someone mentioned that ten thousand tourist buses are converging on the Capitol for the event.  Wow!  I'd really like to go... it's a once in a lifetime event in many ways.  But I don't know where I'd stay.  Nor can I afford a pricey trip right now (if ever) because I'm tapped out from the holidays.

I guess I'll just keep my invitation (suitable for framing) and be content in the knowledge that I was given the choice.   (I suspect that anyone who wishes to can go and observe the inauguration, but hey, don't rain on my parade, okay?)