Senator Ted Kennedy's Wake

Hey folks!

Last Friday, we all had a day off from orientation training. I decided to wake up early and make use of the day by heading up to Dorchester for Senator Ted Kennedy's wake at the John F. Kennedy Library. Originally, my friend Brian and I were supposed to go but he had to work so I drove up by myself. I didn't really know what to expect when I got there. I had been to the JFK Library with Brian just a few short weeks before. It is really an interesting place. I had heard reports of long lines with people waiting outside for hours upon end. I was a little worried.

As I drove up on I-93, highway signs read "Thanks Ted, from the People of Massachusetts." Once I parked my car in a nearby lot, we were shuttle via coach bus to the library. While there were a lot people there, the line wasn't unbearable and they said they only expected about an hour wait.

A very classy touch on the whole process was the members of the Kennedy family going outside and shaking hands with those who were waiting in line to pay their respects. I was able to meet a few of Teddy's nieces, but I was very fortunate to meet his sister and last surviving sibling Jean Kennedy Smith. Shortly after meeting me, she was swarmed by cameras and gave a statement to the press. Upon entering the museum, I saw Rep. John Lewis of Georgia. I actually met Congressman Lewis a few months ago as I was flying down to attend President Obama's Inauguration. Rep. Lewis was a pivotal figure in the fight for civil rights in the 1960s. A close friend of Martin Luther King Jr., Lewis was bloodied and beaten as he walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the infamous march on Selma, Alabama.

I entered a large room and saw the casket of Senator Kennedy. It was very moving. People of all backgrounds and walks of life came to pay their respects. I met people from all over the United States while waiting in that line, many of them with their own stories of being touched by the life of Teddy. Though I probably could have used the sleep, overall it was not a bad way to spend a morning...

Clockwise from top right: Jean Kennedy Smith (sister of John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy) addresses the press; the doors to the library; people quickly filled up behind me in line at such an early hour; the scene when I first arrived at about 9:45am