That lady is a professor at a community college, also attending college to get her doctorate. He was introducing her and asked if she wanted to be called, "Mary" or "professor". It was cute. Very respectful (but then what would you expect????)
Oh, she said "Mary" would be fine.
I was talking to Dolly a few minutes ago and she asked about Fat Tuesday I am assuming this is the same as our Pancake Day. Where we traditionally eat pancakes, toss pancakes, have pancake races etc. What is your Fat Tuesday both I presume are the signal that lent is beginning.
OK, I'm getting my second wind, so here is the account of our eventful day.
My kids and I left at 4:08 AM (mr.h had to stay home to work on our house.) AFter an uneventful trip to Omaha we arrived right at 6 AM. The airport is just a mile or two from the Quest Center, and as we drove by the airport we saw Air Force 1! It was right by the road, but away from the airport. There were some trailer trucks parked in front of it to protect from anything 'bad." It was sooooo cool--I wish we would have had time to go past again, because we weren't expecting to see it.
There was a line of people, but it didn't take us long to get inside the building. It took till about 7:30 to get into the actual arena.
GWB was staying in the hotel attached to the Quest Center by a bridge; Secret Service agents were watching the crowd, and at one point one guy came and pulled a lady near us out of line, saying she could not take her water bottle into the arena. It was a hard plastic yellow colored bottle. She went to talk to the SS agents, saying she needed it for health reasons. She came back with an empty bottle.
Later on in line, I had to give up the snacks I'd put in my purse, and my bottle of water (I had been told it would be OK to take them in, but no big deal!).
Security was tight; we were told to have our cell phones and camers ON when they checked them at the metal detector. It went smoothly and we had a lot of fun people watching and speculating which people in line could have been SS agents, and where there were probably hidden cameras surveying the crowd. (there were about 10,000 people there in all).
Got in the arena and were seated in the nosebleed section, way off to the side, almost behind the stage where the Pres. would be. We were thrilled to be there, and even more thrilled when they opened up the sections next to us which were more towards the front of the stage; we moved twice and ended up having MUCH better seats.
It was exciting to watch the security people checking out the stage, and the news people, tho we were too far away to ID any of them.
The Pres. came in to great cheers--it was magical to see him in person, tho he's a lot smaller in person--especially where we sat--LOL!
I was very impressed that he spoke with NO notes! I guess I knew he did that, but it was different to see it in person. He was very articulate, and the way he explained things made a lot of sense. My kids, age 11 and 13, were impressed and "got" what he was saying.
People kept trickling in, and just as he started talking about Soc. Sec., a guy who had just walked in, about 10 feet in front of us, started screaming insults. As soon as he did, I, and the people around me, shouted him down and pointed at him; within seconds this little tiny security gal was dragging him out by his belt loop. The Pres. made his usual comment about "Freedom of speech." Security guards also removed (a little forcefully!) two "friends" who came in with him. I was surprised at the rage I felt at this guy, disparaging 'my' president!
We were spellbound by the speech, which lasted about 45 minutes. He introduced a man who had written several books about Soc. Sec; I thought the Pres. explained it better than this *expert* did!
He spoke to five people who had different stories about Soc. Sec. and how his proposals would help them. He introduced them with great respect, and listened to their stories intently, occasionally injecting a joke or comment.
After the speech we got out without trouble; we hoped to get close enough to the airport to see AirForce 1 take off. Outside the building there were some protesters about the Soc. Sec. proposed changes. A lady who had been at the speech commented "I don't see how they can think that way; he just told us it was OUR money and we should be able to do with it what we want." So obviously the issues are clear to those who think about it!
I know the building well (my kids show cattle and sheep there) so knew where the motorcade would come from, so we hung around in the parking lot till it left. We waved to it, took pictures--it was one of the highlights of the day.
We still tried to get to see AF1, but unfortunately traffic was stopped around the airport and we were behind the parking garage, so just saw the tail go by at high speed as it took off. It was less than 15 minutes between the time he left with the motorcade and AF1 took off. We were disappointed, but as we drove by where AF1 had been parked, we saw vans and obviously SS vehicles there, and many, many, men dressed in black with heavy armor and big guns getting out of their gear.
My kids said the day was "awesome"! We're all exhausted but so happy. Got the pictures back already! The digital ones are not as good as the ones here, so I'm not going to waste anyone's time posting them. Lots of good lessons, just an overall thrilling day. I'm sure we'll be on a "W High" for a long time.
Enough from me for now . . .