(no subject)

[geminigirl]

I was born in 1975. I was five and a half when Ronald Reagan was inaugurated for his first term. I do remember some of the parts of the Carter administration. I do rememeber hearing about Iran and Iraq, and about hostages. I had no idea where they were, why they were fighting, and so on. But I remember the hostages. And the yellow ribbons.

I knew that Ronald Regan was a bad guy. I had no idea why he was a bad guy, but at the age that I was during the first Reagan term, the world is pretty clearly divided into good guys, and bad guys. And he was a bad guy. At least that's the impression that was left on me by my parents and grandparents. (My mother says to this story, "Well, that's a parent's job-to indocrinate children with their political leanings.")

But no matter what, no matter how I felt, the one thing that the Reagans had between them, that has never seemed the same between other presidential couples is this intense love. It's this sort of pure, intense tenderness that radiated from them for each other. I can't recall seeing that kind of feeling eminating from other presidential couples...not the first Bushes, the Clintons, or the current Bush couple.

I want to be in love that way in 40 or 50 or more years.




My office went to a rare happy hour evening on Wednesday evening. We left happy hour (at Guapos for anyone who wants to know) and I looked at my watch, and realized I could still get into the city and watch the Reagan thing.

I'm a sucker for Pagentry. It's why I'm less inclined to hate the idea of having a big wedding and such, like we're planning. I love the pagentry...I watch stuff like the Canadian Prime Minister's funeral, and the Queen Mum's Birthday Celebration just for the ceremony of it. I admit it.

So I hop the train and head downtown for the moving of the body.

I went, because I could. Because I'm still in/near DC, and I can do these things. And I won't be able to for that much longer.

So I went. And watched. It was an intense, emotional, indescribable experience. Not because I revered the politics, but because of the process. The emptiness, the emotion involved. Because the Reagan administration shaped a great deal of how I feel about politics today.

It was incredible. I'm glad I went, glad I had the opportunity to go, glad I could watch and honor that part of my life.





1. Hearing "Ruffles and Feathers/Hail to the Chief" for a dead president makes me think about zombies. I feel like there should be a zombie president emergeing from the casket or something.

2. After the bizarre West Wing thing (the one about the route taken between the White House and the National Cathedral...you know what I mean, right?) I wanted to know the actual route between the Capitol building and Cathedral, and the White House and Cathedral.