How I spent my Friday night

6 or so years ago I started a family tradition.

On good Friday, we sleep outside the White House, waiting in line for tickets to the annual Easter Egg Roll.

Why? Because it is a rare thing to play on the White House lawn, score free stuff, and hang with celebrities like Mr. McFeely and Barney. And I'm a little nuts.

Last year, STBX the kids and I pitched our tent with 1,400 other crazy folks to get our tickets. See, the goal is to get in line early so you get early tickets. It is timed entry to the event, and by 11AM the teeny White House lawn is pretty stuffed. Get in at 9AM, and you only compete with the other folks who stood in line for 20 hours. By then you're like family.

This year, with illness so rampant, we decided that I would go. 1949 Army down sleeping bag, large golf umbrella, my IPOD and a camp chair in hand, I joined my friends in line at about 3PM Friday. A friend had gotten there first, so I joined her. I was 38th in a line of 1,400.

You spend a lot of time getting to know your neighbors when you're stuck in one place for that long. That close to the front, you have to deal with the media, even though you're far from looking your best. I think I didn't make it on TV...well maybe, but I had the sleeping bag up over my head.

My fellow line mates would check on me every now and again and remind me to take my cold medicine. Nothing cleaner and more pleasant that a bunch of parents. Really. Good folks! Lots of laughing and making fun of everyone's 'coping' mechanisms for passing the time. And what a heathen I was for getting in my bag with my shoes on.

Then it snowed. About 2 inches. Just enough to make it interesting.

See, I didn't bring a tent 'cause it was just me. I thought I'd just snuggle under the umbrella. I was wearing layers...but I forgot extra socks. At about 3AM the snow on my fabulous down bag started to melt. And I got wet. Then I got cold. So I started running around the Ellipse to keep warm. Despite the fact that my line buddies kept adjusting my umbrella and covering me with trash bags to keep me dry. I love those people.

I mean that cute dad with the blue eyes kept kindly offering his tent, but I would have peeled off his snow leggings and bulky old man jacket...and...well...rocked the joint. Actually not, but the thought did cross my mind.

We talked about everything. Introverts apparently don't get in line. Some guys brought a DVD player, a group of preschool moms had a card table and board games.

So, I'd have pictures, but I forgot the camera. But as soon as I get copies...I'll post.

This is the only truly public White House event. It doesn't matter who you know, who you are, how much money you have or where you were born. People of every size and shape and education and background and sexual orientation get in line, get their tickets and get to be a part of a 100+ year old tradition. I get all mushy and gushy at this point about tradition and this country and what it stands for. Wait, while I sing the Star Spangled Banner. For a moment, I even forget who my sister voted for in the election. That even a moron can be President. But I digress. Clearly, I'm a flag waiving patriot for what our founding fathers intended. Not the mess we've made of it.

Tomorrow, my line buddies and I get to meet each other with a few fewer layers of clothes, less sleep deprived and hopefully a wee bit warmer. It is always fascinating to compare your first impressions of people and what you see the next day. 'Oh look, that's the talker', or 'man did he snore', or 'I think he had something other than coffee in that thermos..he ROCKS!!' We'll all be in the same herd for the 9AM entry and I can try to pay #39 back for the hot chocolate he kindly brought me!

WE'RE GOING TO SEE HANNA MONTANA!! Check out the lineup and be jealous...