Our journey to State College

When we heard that President Obama would be speaking at Penn State, we tried our best to get two of the invitation only tickets…

During the day on Wednesday, I was still trying to get tickets for Asha to see President Obama speak at Penn State the following day.

I called the Centre County Democratic Party office and spoke with a man named Greg. I asked him if I was able to get ahold of tickets, if Asha would even be allowed in the door, since she is a child. Greg told me she would be able to go inside.

Greg told me he had been given tickets but had given them all out. He said he might get more tickets that night and he would call me if he did.

Around 10:45pm Wednesday night, I received a phone call from Greg. He told me he had two tickets for Asha and me to attend the President’s speech.

A BIG THANK YOU TO GREG!!!!

Thursday morning, Asha and I got up early, ate breakfast in the car, and drove to Greg’s office to meet his secretary to get the tickets.

We got the tickets and Asha was given a lot of items left over from President Obama’s 2008 campaign. (Pictures to follow in a separate post)

After we got the tickets, Asha started to get nervous, realizing she was about to see Obama. She was complaining of her stomach and her heart hurting. (I was thinking she was really nervous!)

We found a place to park and headed off to find the Rec Hall.

We waited in line for about an hour. Asha was actually really well behaved while we were waiting in line. When we got inside the Rec Hall, we got great seats, directly in front of the stage, up on the risers. (There was VIP seating on the floor!)

Asha kept asking how much longer, going to the bathroom a lot, and then she fell asleep. (She has stayed up late the night before and had to get up really early that morning.)

We got to see Greg there. He was in the VIP section. He looked up at us and waved. We waved back and said a “thank you”. We are hoping to meet him in person, to thank him properly.

I woke her up as they started with The Pledge of Allegiance.

Asha caught a glimpse of Obama behind the curtain and said to me, “Mommy I see him!” and she started to cry. I had her stand up on the bench we were sitting on when he came out, so she could see him, since she is shorter than the people in front of us. (She was the only child in the general audience. There were some children in the VIP floor section.)

She was happy, clapping, and laughing when he came out.

His speech was great, I agree with him completely. You can see the post two down from this one; I included the video to his speech.

We had a great day and she and I will never forget it. She is more determined now to meet him, and is  looking to the future on how she can be chosen for the yearly Easter event at the White House.