Memorial day is a pretty big hullaballo. Not as big as the 4th of July, but pretty big nonetheless. They had a whole weekend of festivities planned but I decided to partake on Monday only and get other things done. I am not sure if it was a good or bad thing. All in all, I got to see partial amount of Obama giving his speech at Arlington Cemetery, got to see Gary Sinise, Buzz Aldrin and Miss America and not be deported. Pretty exciting day all in all.
The first on my list was to hit Arlington Cemetery as they had what was called 'flags-in', which was the same concept of what we did in November and laying the wreaths on the gravesites; this time, people could place American Flags into the ground at the site and on the day I went, everyone was given a rose to place ontop of the tomb. So I wanted to go check this out as well as go see all the statues and monuments that are kicking around the cemetery. So I get to Arlington. And learn that most of it is sectioned off due to the wreath laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. But I decided to still walk around and see things that I haven't seen. Like the entire backside. There is a lot of things on the backside of the Cemetery. Who knew. Even though I do not think I was supposed to be back there in some of the restricted areas. So I am walking around, taking pictures, listening to music, the regular stuff. I knew something big was happening down at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier but didn't feel like contending with all the crowds and decided to do my own thing. Maybe not a good idea. I start wandering down to the area where all the soldiers were standing, very still, in the blazing heat. I wanted to see what was happening down there. Both a good and bad idea. I head on down and start listening to the people speaking and apparently, somebody important was coming through via motorcade, hence all the soldiers. Cool, I am going to stick around and see who it was. So let me paint the scene for you - I am standing beside quite an attractive soldier as he was tall and a slight bit of 
shade. When the motorcade started pulling up, a 21 cannon, not gun, salute, started. I was not ready for that and me being me, slightly freaked out. Now that I think about it, I am glad that the soldier did not have some form of PTSD, although the cannon should have triggered that, as when the first cannon went off, I jumped. High and to the side. Right into him. Very muscular man. My mind almost went a different way, then I remembered where we were. And slowly jumped off of him. Away from him, whatever. I apologized to him and I do not know if it happens a lot to him or he takes his job very seriously but he didn't even bat an eye. Amazing. Then I heard the people beside me saying they saw Obama in the car. Which I missed because I was jumping into a hot soldier (not sure if I missed out or not just yet).
So after the motorcade went through and I kept wandering. Not paying attention. Suddenly I found myself not around people anymore and near the area that Obama was giving his speech. In an area that was kind of blocked off and looked like civilians, ie me, were not allowed in. Did that bother me, not at all. At first. So I kind of sat down and started listening to him give his speech (such a suave type of fellow he is). Until I noticed that I was attracting attention, doing absolutely nothing. But when people started looking at me, and then speaking into walkie talkies, I decided it was time to look way more innocent than I was already looking and get out of that area, having a story in my head about why I was in an area that I was not supposed to be in. If I could remember the years of French that I took, I would have busted out into that. Thankfully, nobody came to haul me off anywhere or anything like that. And, I got to see and hear Obama give a speech in real life. I did not get a picture as I thought for sure then the walkie talkie men would have thought it was not a camera, but I got the mental picture in my head. After that I wandered around a little bit more but then every time I saw a soldier look at me, I got a little paranoid and decided it would not be a good day to be deported, so I left Arlington. And hopefully I can return to see all the statues and monuments. So for all of you, here is a youtube clip of his speech that he gave at Arlington. Part of which I was able to see and hear live.
While at Arlington, we got handed a rose that we could place on a gravesite (or tombstone - what is it called??) and, funny and luckily enough, I found a Canadian soldiers tomb. It was like fate. But then I started thinking and wondering - how is a Canadian buried there but apparently they could have been a fallen soldier and got buried along with the other soldiers in that battle. It was a nice place to sit and reflect on while at Arlington. And I was thankful I was able to find that one gravesite and pay tribute to that specific hero. 
After the Cemetery, I made my way down to the Mall to see the monuments with their wreaths and flowers and to find a spot for the parade. Which was my type of parade since it had bands, horses and soldiers and no clowns or mascots. They went through all the wars, every branch of the military was there and tons of marching bands. I kind of wish they handed out a program or something because when a particular flag or branch of something came up, people got excited about it, and I got excited because I didn't want to look like I knew nothing, which I did. However, if you like men in uniform, which I do, this was the place to be. Ohhh so many hot men in uniforms. I am not sure which branch of the military I enjoy the most - the crisp whites, the suave browns or the dapper blues (I totally just made those up, except the first one as I think people say that). That is one thing I am going to miss the most I think, the ability to see men in uniform as often as I can while here. 
I ended up my burning, a huge feat for me, and got a lot of kick ass pictures. Got to experience another American holiday and it was pretty fun. I didn't see Rolling Thunder or the concert Saturday night, but my experience Monday has left me with enough experience for a lifetime of celebrating Memorial Day. With that, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and should celebrate that I did not get deported, questioned or sanctioned for not following the rules. And thankful I did not need to subject people to a very fake French first language. 
What a cool day!!
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