Bad Inaugural Memories

All this talk about about the upcoming Inauguration brought back memories of my ten years living in Washington. For the most part my life in DC was as separate from anything federal as life could be. Outside of being the caterer for Congressman John Lewis, who has been in the news lately fighting with Trump, I mostly steered clear of politics. The only time I had anything to do with an Inauguration was in the second year I lived in the District.
It was Reagan’s second term. I had a gay friend who worked in a Republican congressman’s office and needed a date to the ball. I was too young and naive to even think it was strange he worked for a Republican and needed a woman as his date. I just thought it would be fun to go to one of the eight ball’s being held that night.
You did not get to pick which ball you went to. They divided up the country and depending on where you were from you were assigned one of the locations. My friend’s state was Pennsylvania and that ball was being held at the Kennedy center. I can’t remember exactly which states were lumped together at that ball, but I do think one of them was Texas because there were loud men in black tie and cowboy boots. Something that was foreign to me at the time. Back then I don’t think we had big names perform at the balls like Beyoncé did at Obamas.
I had a navy blue taffeta dress with silver beading on the square neckline. It was very eighties and so horrible. I have no recollection of getting to the ball, just standing in very long lines to check our coats and another long line to get our picture taken and another to get a drink. It was crowded and boring. Hardly anyone knew anyone else. Everyone was just waiting for the President and First Lady to come and take a turn on the dance floor and then rush off to the next ball.
I can’t remember if there was any food, but do recall that I was ready to leave within an hour of getting there. Of course that was not an option. I was a beard after all and my date insisted that I stay close to him in the off chance that his congressman boss see him. I never met the congressman so my being thee was totally unnecessary. I swore I would never again go to one of those political things and I never did.