An Inauguration Memory

Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, Washington, DC /Photograph by Shannon Finney

Now that the holidays are over, denizens of the Beltway have turned their attention to the

upcoming second Inaugural celebrations for President Obama (or POTUS, as we

affectionately call him). And as Washington, DC gives itself a good polish, I have been

thinking about the first Inauguration of President Obama, back on January 20, 2009. It was

freezing that day, and as my husband and I stepped out of the warm Metro station and

onto the cold streets of Capitol Hill, I realized that those hand warmers were going to be

insufficient. Security was tight that day, with concrete barriers and chain link fencing everywhere you

turned. And while the throngs of people were impressive, the most visually jarring

thing to me were instances where there was an absence of people and cars. When I took

the above photo, I was having one of those "Vanilla Sky" moments where it was

eerily quiet and still.