I
t’s Friday. The Santa Monica Promenade is packed with people and I feel like P.T. Barnum trying to get them to check out the cell. Now I’m in traffic on the way back to the hotel and finally getting a chance to reflect on the day. I’m thinking about Adam’s struggle to drink water, the Chihuahua puppy (even though I’m not usually a fan of sub-beagle size dogs), and the two Navy recruiters in full dress uniform who told me that they and lots of other military people feel the same way we do. I even got to swim this morning. It was a good day.
ZJ
Our first day in Santa Monica and it certainly wasn’t boring! The cell arrived on schedule at 6am, but much to our chagrin the necessary fork lift to maneuver the giant 1 ton cell onto the promenade was stuck in traffic on the 405. Minutes, then hours ticked away and only added to our stress as media outlets and celebrity speakers began to arrive. 15 minutes before the press conference, the fork lift finally arrived, off loaded from its ride, and began the precarious process of taking the cell from its own flat bed perch to the promenade. Suddenly, the cell pitched to one end and crashed corner first onto the street, thankfully the fork lift operator thought fast and managed to avert a real disaster and the cell managed to heavily right itself in the street. I think my heart stopped beating for a minute while we made sure no one was hurt. Woooo that was a little bit scary!
The cell made a dramatic entry to our spot on the promenade, a few minutes late for its own press conference! It was a great show - Martin Sheen, Mark Ruffalo and Paul Haggis headlined for Larry Cox, the ACLU, an attorney who represents a guantanamo detainee and the Muslim Public Affairs Committee. I can’t wait to see the pics of them in the cell!
