Inauguration Day

Eight years ago, everything was perfect. Even the cold on Inauguration day. That’s not true—my shoes weren’t perfect, those badly cut black rubber boots that dug into my ankles. I needed them for the muddy ground on the Mall. But everything else was perfect. Fresh off a perfect Inaugural Ball evening out with friends, I was at the Inauguration with the man I thought I was going to marry. Finally. After much longing, wanting, and waiting, he was finally mine, and our debut out in public was on the National Mall, hand in hand, watching OUR president be sworn in. It was everything I had ever wanted.