2 Weeks ago I was called into a meeting at work. When I arrived I found myself, the usual other managers and couple of Secret Service agents from the White House! We were informed that our hotel had been chosen to house the President, the First Lady, the security teams, the Air Force One crew and the communications team the night of the first Presidential Debate and for the Obama's 20 Wedding Anniversary! And then they said "don't tell anyone, not the staff, not even your families." So for two weeks I held my tongue with sheer excitement. Since I am a greeny at this job I was not liable for most of the ongoings, which meant I got to just be along for the ride. When I arrived at work on the 3rd it was like someone had stepped on an anthill, except instead of ants there was hundreds of Agents, Officers, Fire Fighters and EMTs all bustling around in preparation for the POTUS and the FLOTUS' arrival. The energy was indescribably awesome!
When we closer to the big arrival the Secret Service asked myself along with our Head of Security to close off the Elevator foyer and keep the public at bay. Since the guests had to go through an airport type security check at arrival they knew someone important was there and once the velvet ropes went up they all congregated in hopes of a quick look at the President on his way to elevator. Unbeknownst to them he used the service elevator and never came out to the front of house. The agents I was working with gave me these official Secret Service earpiece and lapel pin (the same kind Mitt Romney wore during the debate) Very cool!
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| The words around the shield say: "UNITED STATES SECRET SERVICE" |
I was also given tickets the Campaign Rally the next morning. We were not nearly as close as last time but we still had a good spot. My sister Kami was super bummed that she didn't get come to the Rally in Golden last month so I made sure she got a ticket this time. She was very happy for the second chance. Callie and Drake were going to come but it was a high of 40 degrees and we weren't close enough for the hand shake so they opted out.
Another cool thing was that performer will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas came and warmed up the crowd...litterally because it was friggen freazing! See video below:
It was all such a great experience and definitely another one for the books! Can't wait to see what happens next week. WINK ;)
