Research is important, and so when a bit of luck landed me four sought-after tickets to one of the official inaugural balls in Washington, DC, I jumped at the chance to slip into a ball gown and dance the night away in arms of a handsome man.
Only the night didn’t turn out the way I had imagined. An inaugural ball is not a Cinderella event, as I was soon to learn. First off, I broke the zipper on my gown and had to switch to a gown I wore to an event last summer. Normally, the sleeveless gown would be fine, except it was freezing. No, it was below freezing (I think it was 7 degrees). It was so cold, we actually put hand warmer packets in our coat pockets AND in our shoes.
There were no limos (unless you were Oprah)–or gleaming carriages, because all of the streets near the ball location had been completely closed to traffic for security. So, like nearly everyone else, we, in our ball gowns and my hero in his tux, took the Metro into DC. **Hint: if your gown has a train, take the stairs and skip the escalator. Not kidding. Battle the thousands coming down the stairs if you must, but do NOT take the escalator. Lesson learned.** I wore boots under my gown and my hero put my Manolos in his coat pockets. This worked out great, until we passed through the second security stop and he was pulled out of line and manually searched. “What do you have in your pockets, sir?” My daughters’ eyes were huge as they watched men-in-black surround him. ”High heels–for her.” This got him a sympathetic look from the security guard. After a nice long pat down, they let him and my Manolos through. Such a sweetheart, eh?
Here is where things turned around. Because so many other ball-goers were caught in the parade-goers exodus, we were one of the very first people to arrive in the ballroom. We claimed four chairs (there were only about 100 chairs and there would be thousands of guests), dropped our coats–put on my Manolos– and then my daughters rushed the stage where Sheryl Crow was doing a sound check and rehearsing the songs she would perform later. She said she had hadn’t slept in four nights and looked exhausted.
The crowds quickly filled the ballroom. We snapped a few pictures, drank champagne and I danced to a Motown band in the arms of my hero (sigh) until my feet were aching and my Manolos had to take a break. Who would notice if I put black boots back on? No one could see them under my gown anyway. By then it was too crowded to see my feet anyway. My hero brought me another glass of champagne, while my youngest daughter jockeyed for prime real estate in front of the stage and my eldest daughter decided to give her red pumps a rest by sitting down to text her boyfriend for the next hour. Ah, young romance.
Sheryl Crow took the stage at ten p.m., and, now dressed in heels, a black skirt and white sleeveless top with a slit back, she sang every hit song–including A Change Will Do You Good. Not sure it that is the title, but it is the chorus and perfect for the night, right? She was given the hook close to eleven, when VP Biden and his wife (her bright red gown was gorgeous and I thought much prettier than Michelle Obama’s confection.) His short speech was entertaining and then they danced. About half an hour later, a Coast Guard band played Barack and Michelle into the ball. His speech was short, and their dance to At Last (one of my favorite songs) was completely adorable, especially when Michelle had to keep to whisking aside her train so Barack didn’t step on it again.
After the balls ended, tens of thousands in silk and satin excited the convention center and walked down the center of the closed streets through DC toward the Metro. It was the oddest sight, like an end of the world scene in a movie–except apparantly the end of the world was a black tie event.
We made it home by 2 a.m. and then were up by six a.m.–the girls had mid-term exams! But they didn’t complain. The inauguration was an historic event and something we all will always remember. My readers might see glimpses of the night at the ball in some of my upcoming books. Because when you are an author, everything is research.
Cheers!
