Just a few reflections on my recent trip to Washington D.C.

• If there weren’t a Navarro County, those of us who appreciate country life, a slower pace, and blessed quiet would have to band together and create a place just like it. Washington is a must-see for every American, but despite the beauty of all that white marble, I was pleased to see my simple house in Roane again.

• The historic nature of the event is hard to see when you’re in the middle of it. It’s kind of like the ocean. You know it’s huge, but all you can see is the water, and while that’s pretty overwhelming, you don’t have a big-picture of what it looks like from your tiny raft. It was exciting, loud and cold, and the crowd was enormous and awe-inspiring. Speeches? What speeches?

• On Wednesday, I had a conversation with a man named Frederick in the Smithsonian. He explained that his grandfather’s property abutted the University of Georgia’s. However, when it was time for his father to go to college, that young man couldn’t walk across the property line to go to the school nearest him, even though his family paid taxes. Frederick said the historic nature of this inauguration wasn’t all about the next four years, but was instead about the last 400 years, and the personal history that every African-American carries of being treated like second-class citizens. He was about 60 years old, and we were standing in front of that giant marble statue depicting George Washington as a Roman soldier and Frederick started to cry just thinking about his parents and his grandparents and this week. Speechless, I could only listen.

• In a restaurant in Union Station, I struck up a conversation with a woman in a full-length mink coat named Cheryl from Los Angeles. She asked me what I, as a white person, had brought away from the event. I told her I was struck by the personal stories, and pride being expressed by the people I met. When she was 16, her grandmother took her to the March on Washington. She said “I had to be here to see it full circle.”

• Crowds were a problem for the security and transportation experts. Lots of people who had tickets didn’t get in, and after the ceremony the line to the nearest subway station was four blocks long, and it stayed that way for hours in the blowing cold. Still, most people were cheerful and polite. It was as if everyone knew we had just witnessed something very special, and no one wanted to break the mood by being a jerk.

• Our Congressman, Rep. Joe Barton, and his staff were marvelous. They were accommodating, friendly, and made every effort to help the people from the district, even though it wasn’t their party’s party. Kudos to all of them. I got to speak to Congressman Barton after he lunched with President Obama. Rep. Barton said he doesn’t agree with the direction the president intends to take the nation, but he wishes him well. I thought it was a classy thing to say. A couple of days ago, Rush Limbaugh hoped the president would fail. Perhaps no one has explained to Rush how democracy works?

• In my five days in D.C. I went through at least 24 separate security gates, either x-rays or metal detectors or hand searches. I stopped counting after that. My shoes with the big metal springs on them set off the machines every single time, which meant I had to be given a second going-over every time. Good thing no one was keeping track, or I’d still be in a D.C. cell being interrogated about my dangerous footwear.

• The best mac and cheese I’ve ever had is served in the American History Museum’s cafeteria. A $12 hamburger tastes just like a $6 Chili’s hamburger.

• Maybe I’m getting a little obsessive, but I went through a whole box of those little hand sanitizer packets. All I could think about were the millions of diseased people with germy hands who had touched the same escalator handrail, or subway handle that I was touching. I envisioned armies of walking dead staggering through the subways licking everything in sight. A big imagination and a skimpy knowledge of science are a dreadful combination.

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Janet Jacobs is a Daily Sun staff writer. Her column appears on Sundays. She may be reached via e-mail at jacobs@corsicanadailysun.com