When I woke up this morning, I diagnosed myself with having “lost my epicenter.” I couldn’t quite figure out why my balance was so off and why I couldn’t stop feeling so dizzy, but I was determined to not let it ruin my day and keep me away from the city. So, like every journalist should, I sucked it up. And sure enough, as soon as I hopped out of the car and approached Washington monument, I felt significantly better. The cold air certainly helped, but seeing the hundreds and thousands of people trek toward the Lincoln Memorial for this morning’s concert made the most significant change to my morale.
Derek, Olivia and I made our way through CIA security in about 10 minutes and waited at the end of the reflecting pool near the WWII Memorial. We gathered some man-on-the-street interviews and captured b-roll of the crowds and police officers at work. As it approached 2 p.m. we made our way along the left side of the reflecting pool to get closer to the jumbo screens where we could watch the concert. We could barely see the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, but just knowing that we were so close was an incredible feeling. One amazing moment was when Barack and Michelle Obama pranced down the stairs to greet the crowd. There was such an enthusiasm in the way they approached the podium. Even more enthusiastic was my and Olivia’s response. As soon as we saw them on the jumbo screen, we jumped up and down and hugged each other. We had no idea that the Obamas were going to show up at the concert! And we just couldn’t believe that we are HERE, in D.C. witnessing this moment. It was truly incredible.
The other gasps I emitted this afternoon were for Tom Hanks, Laura Linney, Steve Carell, Jamie Foxx, Stevie Wonder, Kal Penn, John Legend, James Taylor and…Josh Groban! I absolutely flipped out when he came on the steps that were his stage. As always, he sounded wonderful. Just thinking that we were that close to all those people…wow.
Derek was hardcore about his video today. At one point, he climbed to the top of a port-o-potty to get video and stills of the crowd! He didn’t start the trend, though. There were tons of people sitting on top of them all along the sidewalk. People were also sitting in the trees to get a good view of the steps.
Approaching the capitol yesterday and the Lincoln Memorial today brought on so many varying degrees of excitement and made me realize how incredible it is to be a part of this. I just wonder what we’ll witness tomorrow.
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