We were there! We made History!

The parade was awesome, groups from all over the country were there. We were only able to see those close to our grouping (6, the last of the parade).

So after being energized by our new President's speech, we were ready to brave the cold and deliver a great show! NOT. Man, it was cold, mid 20's before the wind kicked in dragging it down to low teens. We were almost dressed to perfection for combating the cold, but our trusty hot packs came in handy.

Parade prep came in a few stages:
* Drive to parking lot "A", sit on the bus and wait
* Drive to parking lot "B", meet your assigned escort (a GREAT guy by-the-way. Not sure if I can reveal his name, so I won't), sit on bus and wait
* Get out of bus, get bus searched (and you, your equipment, etc.), pick up a box lunch
* Get back on bus, eat box lunch, wait-- are you starting to see a pattern here?
* Go to hosting place "C" get out of bus go into warm cozy tent, wait
* Get called out of warm cozy tent to stand in formation outside in 20° weather, wait (let me tell you-- it was HARD to go out into that cold air, but we did)
* Start parade...

So we're finally on the go, all is going well and spirits are high, we're hoping for the "signal"... ok, let me explain.

The "signal" is a special hand and/or arm gesture assigned to our group to let us know if we will get the privilege of doing an extended performance for the President-- it is only revealed to you if the extended performance is a go... did I tell you only eight groups would have this potential privilege and U-15 was selected as one of them?!

We approach the viewing stand for President Obama and the First Lady... no signal, bummer-- or maybe not.

As we passed the viewing area we took our chance-- we stopped in front of the viewing booth and started to perform the 'special' section of our song which included a new dance move designed especially for the President-- a gesture/motion symbolic of blessing him.

Here is the real special part, performed by our President.

President Obama made a conscience effort to make eye contact with several of us and acknowledge us with finger points, thumbs-up signs and waves. This act shook most of us to the core-- many of the drummers (including myself) missed our queues and started playing all different rhythms, dancers lost train of thought and started doing a variety of dance moves.

Amazingly all the pieces fit together to make a beautiful presentation-- the beat from the drums blended into each other and filled in gaps missed by mesmurized members, the dancers awe-inspired movements became organic and blended to each other creating patterns and spins that looked perfectly choreographed.

Oh, I left out something pretty significant, we were caught totally off guard (at least I was) that President Obama and the First Lady were practically a few feet from us. I had no idea they would be that close and it blew my mind to see them-- it was a beautiful sight. My guess is I wasn't the only one caught off guard and awe-struck based on the groups reaction (noted above) and excitemet well into the night and following day.

Needless to say we overstayed our welcome and was told to "move it along", it was kind of funny actually, but our mission was completed and the First Family looked pleased with our performance-- many smiles, pointing and waves were aimed our way. The First Lady even danced a bit.

I'm putting together photos from our group and the next posting will have plenty of photos.