So Far, So Good

Happy New Year! It's January 3 and this year has already been interesting and new. As I'm sure all of you know, the funeral and burial of President Ford took place over the last two days here in downtown Grand Rapids. The preparations started well before his casket arrived here yesterday. Steve and I walked downtown to the Ford Presidential museum on Sunday afternoon to look at the memorials and sign the condolence book. While we were there, the military band and colorguard were practicing on the lawn in front of the museum. There was a practice casket in front of the burial site. After the practice was done, some of the service people stayed around and talked with people outside of the museum. We spoke to a couple of Air Force guys who had previously been in California and Washington DC and one of them let me hold the rifle that he carries throughout the ceremonies. Pretty cool - and heavy. Here are some photos from Sunday: The military band on the lawn. The practice casket in front of the burial site. Signs, flowers, and a whole lot more at the entrance to the museum.

After seeing the museum on Sunday (and especially after seeing the Air Force jets from the parking lot at work), we felt compelled to go see the casket. Steve and I left our house around 8pm on Tuesday to go downtown and get in line. We were not expecting to wait in line for 5 hours - but we did. I don't think I have ever seen so many people in my life. It's hard to describe. What's even more remarkable was the general patience and peacefulness of the crowd. When was the last time you stood in line with a bunch of strangers and kids and didn't get angry or frustrated? Once we finally got to the museum entrance, a somber and quiet mood swept over everybody. There was no sound. The casket was right in front of us, draped with a flag and surrounded by honor guard standing at attention. It was truly humbling and moving and, for me, a little hard to understand. I've never considered myself to be a political person but it felt very special to be in the presence of not only a former President but in the experience itself. We were exhausted when we got home but I'm definitely glad we were there.

Today, I left work early to get home to see the funeral procession and the Air Force fly-over of downtown. I walked down to Fulton Street and stood just east of downtown to wait for the procession to come by. There were, once again, thousands of people. The motorcade came through very quickly - much faster than I expected - but I did get a glimpse of Dick Cheney and President Carter as they went by. I also got this picture of the hearse -

After the procession was done, I walked up to Crescent Park which is tucked into the Spectrum-Butterworth buildings and overlooks the north end of the city. After waiting about 30 minutes, we started hearing the cannon salute. We couldn't see the cannons but we saw the smoke wafting around the buildings in front of us. Shortly after the salute came the Air Force jets, flying the "Missing Man" formation over the city. I had seen them practice this from a distance the day before but it was quite a different experience to see it directly overhead. It was an incredible finish to an incredible week of events. I'm glad I got the opportunity to experience such a historic event.

In other news - I've been super busy at work the last two days. We received a huge shipment last week and it's been hectic trying to catch up on backorders. I'm cutting my days down to three a week once school starts. And school starts on MONDAY! I still have to buy some books and supplies this week but otherwise I am really ready to get going. This semester is going to be a lot of intro classes so hopefully I'll be able to ease myself back into being a good student :) I'm also planning on starting my Rainier training on Monday. Nothing too hard to start - just a few weeks to get myself back into a routine after two months of sheer eating and drinking and vegging.