It's Life......Everybody Poops: President Obama Visits Mesquite

President Obama was scheduled to speak today just half a block away from my home. When I heard the news I couldn't believe that out of every college campus that Dallas, TX has to offer he chose to speak at Eastfield Community College; the college that I attend. By the time the news of the President's impending arrival reached my ears it was unfortunately too late for me to procure tickets to the event from the school or to make arrangements to have the kids home in order to witness this once in a lifetime event. Seriously how often can a person say that the President it going to not only be near their city but will be just down the street? Throughout the evening yesterday and this morning I continued to mull over the situation of having him so close to home and the chances that we would miss our moment to say we saw the President.

As I brought Alyssa to school this morning at 7:15am it was already quite apparent that something big was happening at the College Campus today. News Crews were already camped out in the student parking lots, security was already in place at the entrance drives, school buses lined the back parking lot and barricades were being placed on the medians for future use. Obviously this was not going to be a normal weekday or class schedule for Eastfield Community College nor for the residents of the surrounding neighborhood. So I dropped Alyssa off at school and after a quick reminder from her that I was supposed to volunteer for their Glow in the Dark party today at 1pm I returned home still feeling the sense of excitement from all of the events that were scheduled to take place today. I also returned home wondering if once I left at 1pm would I be able to get back to my house before President Obama left the college.

At 1pm I left home and headed to Alyssa's school. By this time Motley Dr. was swarming with local law enforcement as well as people. The onlookers were lining the sidewalks, waiting to catch a glimpse of our 44th President and his motorcade. As I continued to drive down Motley we could see that the police patrols were to include our local police department as well as Dallas police and campus police. They were all out in force in their units, on bicycles, on motorcycles and on horseback. Obviously they weren't taking any chances.

As I arrived at the school I wondered still if we would be done in time to see the President either arriving or leaving and if I'd be able to get back into my neighborhood without any issue. Not only were the blocking off the streets but onlookers were parking everywhere. Fortunately the Glow in the Dark party moved along very smoothly from beginning to end and by the time the last kid had left the cafeteria and returned to class it was only 2pm. Obama wasn't scheduled to speak until 2:50pm. So, I seized the opportunity to ask if I could take Alyssa from school early in order to get home and possibly allow her to see the President or at least his motorcade for herself. Naturally the Principal saw no problem with her leaving a little early and after a brief conversation we were out the door and on a mission to see President Obama.

As we left the elementary school and turned back onto Motley Dr. it quickly became apparent that the streets were already blocked off and the President was on his way. After a small detour back through the neighborhood where her school is located we were able to cross the interstate and were headed home. While on the service road we could see the President's motorcade already taking their exit off of the interstate and new that we only had moments before they would be passing our street. When we finally made it home I quickly pulled into the drive way and got the kids out of the van. We then ran the half of a block from our house to Motley Dr. in hopes of making it there before the President's car passed. When we were just three houses away, the motorcade passed us and by the time we made it to the corner they had already turned onto the college drive and were headed to the college day care facilities.

Here we decided to wait. Surely after touring the day care facilities the would have to transport him back across the campus to the gymnasium, which is where he was scheduled to give his speech. Afterwards he would have to depart the campus and we should have another chance at seeing him or his car. As we stood and waited we began to notice the scene that was before us. It was like being in a movie. There were police officers and secret service everywhere. There were snipers on top of the buildings and a helicopter flying overhead. The school was completely locked down. No one was permitted on or off of the campus while the President was present. They wouldn't even let us cross the street to the side where the school rests. Down the street from us near the other entrance to the campus stood a group of tea partiers and protesters. A man walked down the street carrying a sign that read "Obama get your black communism out of Libya". All that was missing was the film crew and some explosions. As we stood there and I pointed out the different things to the kids Alyssa took note of something else. There were apparently Decepticons invading the campus across the street from us. She was quick to point out the black secret service vehicle as well as the black and white police car. So there it was...in her mind....a Transformers movie in the making.

As we continued to wait of course the kids started to become restless and as a means of passing the time Alyssa decided that it would be a good time to talk to the police officer working our street. First she approached him and wanted to know what it is that he does exactly. His response was that for today he was to do nothing but stand right there in the street and watch for cars that might try to get through. Then she wanted to know his name and she talked to him about school and science and even quizzed him on his math skills. During their conversation she even looked at him and said "Hey! You know that there's Decepticons all over the place over there right? I hope you guys brought the Autobots." Then after a few more sentences about which vehicles were the ever elusive Decepticons she said "I wonder where Optimus Prime is." I have to hand it to him though, Officer Chad did a wonderful job in talking to her and entertaining her. I'm sure he had lots to tell his family when he made it home tonight.

So we continued to stand and wait and the longer we did so the more you could really feel just how intense and grand this whole event was. Everyone was being watched closely and no one was being allowed to move on that campus without permission from security. As we stood there waiting an older gentleman in a red sedan pulled up and questioned Officer Chad on how he could possibly get onto the campus. When he was denied access he became slightly irate and insisted that he was a professor at the college; he had a class that was scheduled to begin and one way or another he was going to gain access and not let his students down. Needless to say that as soon as he put his car into reverse and began backing down the street, Officer Chad keyed up on his radio and made everyone else aware of the gentleman's intentions. Within moments two secret service vehicles could be seen leaving the campus and heading in the direction that the professor had gone. I suppose that not only was this professor going to be late for class but that he was also about to have a really bad day.

Finally after waiting for a short while, movement between the security details, secret service, and the helicopter overhead indicated that the President was going to be making his exit shortly. So with the kids in tow I walked down Motley Dr. two more blocks, a little closer to the first drive entrance in order to get a closer and better view of President Obama's motorcade as it left Eastfield Community College. As we walked closer we watched as all of the motorcycle officers got back onto their bikes and into formation on the road. Within moments the President was back in his car and was leaving. With a few seconds left to the battery life on my camera I was able to take a quick 10 second video of the President's motorcade as it drove off of the campus before it finally died. The kids watched with excitement and waved and once he was gone we began to walk home.

Here you can see snipers on top of the day care facility

(look on the left corner of the building just over the buses)