January 7th, 2017
Last weekend I called mom when she hung up on me because she was talking to Michael. She never called me back because Michael had told her that he was having his “exit interview” with the President, and Mom and Dad were invited. She was excited. I asked if I could go but told her I didn’t want to ask him myself. She asked him the next time they spoke, and he said he could bring up to 5 family members. Mollie, Evan and I were invited. Super cool! But he was late submitting information, and wasn’t sure if we could still get in on the reservation. And it could be cancelled at any time. By Monday we got a general “confirmation e-mail” from the White House.
By Tuesday, January 3rd, we were calling each other trying to work out the best way to travel. Would I bring the kids? Would I take 2 days off of work? Would I take a sick day or a personal day? Would Kelley be going? Was Evan going to drive? Where would we stay? Etc. It was a crazy couple of days.
I finally decided to drive down with mom and dad on Thursday afternoon (Chad would leave work early to pick up the kids). Mom booked a room at the Metro Points hotel in New Carrollton. I decided to fly home Saturday morning because Chad is working the closing shift, so I didn’t have to get back Friday night like I originally thought. I booked a flight on American Airlines for $125!
The sub for Kim was supposed to be spending a day at the school on Friday, January 6 to meet everyone and get materials. I knew I would be skipping on that and I didn’t want them to think I was blowing him off. So I had to send an e-mail to everyone to tell them I wouldn’t be around on Friday because I would be in Washington to meet the President. I didn’t say much else about it to anyone because I know things can be cancelled at any time, and people kind of think you’re crazy when you say you’re going to meet the President of the United States.
It all started working out. I wrote up sub plans and was able to leave at lunch time on Thursday. Was up until 3:00 the night before doing laundry, packing and readying the house/kids for my being gone for a day and a half. Went to mom and dads. Left the Avalon. Changed clothes. Loaded up, picked up Evan and headed down. Didn’t hit much traffic and made it to D.C. just after 8:00 (and 1 stop for food along the way). Mollie flew and got to the hotel 10 minutes before we did. She was hungry so we walked to Chipotle across the street, and got food to bring back to the room. Dad went to the “international food market” and came back with weird mexican cookies and cakes. We hung out in the hotel for a bit before going to bed.
The next morning we had planned to be on the 11:00 shuttle to the train station to head into the city. At some point in the night, mom had gotten a text from Michael telling her we had to be at the gate at 12:30 not 1:30 and that we should wear “suits, etc.”. Mom felt like her outfit was not good enough, so after we ate breakfast, we hatched a plan to find her something else when stores opened at 9, 9:30 and 10:00. We went to Forman Mills (junk!), TJ MAXX (nothing), some other clothing store, and ended up at K and G around 10:15. They had TONS of stuff. We found a bunch of things for mom to try on. She picked a dress. We ran around looking for jewelry and shoes. We got back to the hotel at about 11:00 and frantically all tried to get dressed. Evan was the only one actually ready to go at 11:10. We ran downstairs to get the shuttle around 11:15, and they said the next one would be at 11:30. We decided to drive to the train station (about 5 minutes - not a problem). We got to the train station and mollie ran ahead to buy passes. She got accosted by the “super helpful and friendly” station master who insisted on helping her and only complicated things. He calculated the fares wrong, then pushed “debit” when she wanted to pay “credit” and restarted the entire transaction. Finally got it through, accepted the credit card, and then the machine malfunctioned because we wanted 5 cards and only got 4 before it ran out. Waited for the station master to handwrite mollie a receipt for the fourth card, while she bought another one on a different machine. Finally got up to the platform to watch our train pull out. Had to wait 12 minutes for the next one. It’s almost noon by the time we get on the train. Did my hair on the train, but it looked weird and I ended up just wearing it down. Took us about 35 minutes on the train. Arrived at the EEOB gate just after 12:30. They checked our IDs and sent us through the first checkpoint. They asked Evan for a second ID because of his beard. Went through the second checkpoint, got “appointment” passes, had to stand in a little side room before being passed through a metal detector. Got shuffled into the EEOB and through to the South Auditorium holding space. Met Michael. We were number 25. He went up to his office to find his suit and change. We all waited around for our turn to get a picture!
We were “briefed” by someone about not taking selfies, not using cell phones and not giving anything to the president. Then they started lining everyone up. 1-7, then 1-10, then 11-20 and then 21-30. We waited in line inside the auditorium before they walked us out to the white house. We waited in a lobby of the White House where they collected our passes, and then walked across the portico to the hallway outside the Oval Office. Then it was our turn to meet the President! It was insane!!
I hadn’t really prepared anything to say because I figured I wouldn’t really have a chance. It would be a courteous, “Hi” shake hands, stand for a picture.
President Obama walked in and gave Michael a big hug, and talked to my mom about Michael’s work and how great he’s been and how proud she should be. Mom said something like “We sure wish you were staying”. Then he shook Mollie’s hand. Mollie said she was a guidance counselor, which then made me say I was a music teacher. I spent my one sentence to tell him I was a music teacher! It’s all a blur but it was amazing. What an honor for all of us, and how cool for Michael!! He told us where to stand in front of the desk in the Oval Office, and posed us for a picture “Let’s have Mikey next to me, and mom, and at least one sibling over here - no maybe two - we’ll balance this out”. It was so surreal! I put my hand on the chair behind me to steady myself for the picture. I remember thinking “I’m touching this chair!!” Haha. It was so cool. President Obama again thanked Michael and told him he wanted to “get your whole crew together” before they leave. Michael said something about “That would be great if you could fit it in” and he said “I’ll make it fit” or something like that. Then we were shuffled out the side door of the Oval Office and back down the portico to the lobby we came from.
We went back to the holding room and gathered our things. Michael took us up to his office in the EEOB, and walked us around. We saw the bowling alley and the gift shop, and dad says he saw the Vice President coming down the hallway before he got on the elevator. We walked to the White House Historical Society gift shop, and then over to another White House gift shop that was way more junky touristy stuff and everything just inside the door had Donald Trump’s face on it. I actually had to look away because it made me so sick/angry. The other two gift shops had NOTHING Donald Trump. I was disappointed that the souvenirs I bought had to come from that gift shop, but I definitely did NOT buy anything with his face on it. What a disgrace to the 44 men who have run this country. It is so sickening.
Old Ebbitt’s Grill was just around the corner, so we went in to wait for a table while Michael attended meetings. I had called earlier for a reservation and they didn’t have anything until 8:30. The Hamilton didn’t have reservations until 9:45. We walked in a little after 5 and they directed us right to a table in the back by the water fountain. It was awesome. We waited for Michael. We ordered crab and artichoke dip (delicious!) and buffalo wings as appetizers. We ordered food and Michael got there around 6:15. I had the pork chop which was DELICIOUS. Evan had butternut squash ravioli, Mollie had shrimp and grits, Mom just had clam chowder, Dad got a steak and Michael had a Reuben. We added desserts: Mollie and I shared a butterscotch blondie, Evan had a bread pudding, Michael had peanut butter pie, and mom and dad shared a bread pudding. It was all so yummy. I’m sure it cost $200 or more, but mom said “it was kind of a red letter day for the Dickersons”. It was a nice way to celebrate. Just as we were finishing dinner, Mollie noticed the table behind us taking pictures of us. (4 middle-eastern looking young adults) She was furious. I didn’t notice. She commented to them that they were being really rude, and we left. It was a really nice dinner besides that. She said later that they were making fun of dad for being overweight, and turning and looking, and then taking pictures. Gross people.
We said goodbye to Michael around 9, and got on the train to come back to New Carrollton. We did have to get off and wait for the next train near Potomac because a crazy man on the train was ranting about “white people” and pacing up and down the car, claiming that someone in the same car was following him. It was a little terrifying.
We all changed into warm and comfortable clothes, and hung around in the hotel for a little while before going to bed. I got up at 6:30 to get ready to head to the airport. Mom and Dad decided to just drive me when it looked like it would take me 1-2 hours on the train. It took them less than ½ hour to drive me. (Left the hotel at 7:30 and got to the airport just after 8:00) And here I am sitting in the airport writing this. It has been a whirlwind 48 hours and probably the coolest thing I will ever do in my life. Michael is so cool! I am so proud of him. And I’m so proud when I get to talk about the things he’s doing/did for the Obama Administration. I am so disgusted by how quickly we reduced the Presidency of the United States to a joke. President Obama was an inspirational President who seemed to be genuinely concerned about making life better for most Americans. I am so honored to have met him - in the OVAL OFFICE.
I hope we get to see all of the pictures. I could hear them taking pictures while he shook hands with each of us - so I hope we get to see those. Maybe if I have a picture to look at, I won’t feel like I missed the whole thing by being so starstruck.
Thank you Michael! Thank you President Obama! Speechless.
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