Wednesday night I received a call from a friend, I won’t forget what he said: “How would you feel if I told you I have an extra ticket to the inauguration?” to which I replied with a loud scream, a thank you to our creator, and “When do we leave?”. At 5 a.m. the next morning, I was in a car, heading from Tampa to a hotel in Baltimore – with a ticket to the 2017 Presidential Inauguration of Donald J. Trump.

Friday morning, with 2 hours of sleep, a large cup of coffee and the open-minded anticipation of a child, we jumped on the Marc Train from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.

Once in D.C we passed the protestors, the onlookers, the vendors and the normal city crowd and headed towards the Capitol Building. All the while, my thoughts are with the protestors at the beginning. I put myself in their shoes, try to imagine the pain and misunderstanding they feel. It is most certainly intriguing to sympathize with people who are so distraught about an occasion that has historically been so grand. But on I went, trying to make it to the viewing area before 11:00 EST.

My ticket was silver, the “Mall Standing Area” it was called, so on we went, tracking through the streets of DC with three of my friends, looking for our entrance. Finally, we arrive and walk through the security, through a maze of fences and into the viewing area. I pushed my way to the front, getting as close to our nation’s capital as I could possibly get, hoping to see the strongest power our world knows, transferred from one person, to the next.

Finally, the clock strikes 11 and the festivities begin. First, all the former, living presidents are introduced and brought out, followed by our Vice President, his wife, our First Lady, and then our current President – all these people being escorted by other brilliant men and women of our nation such as our congressmen, congressional leaders, and soldiers – people for whom I have an immeasurable amount of respect.

My heart stopped when our upcoming First Lady walked through the doors. From a few hundred yards, I could clearly see her, an azure star in a pitch sky: beautiful, regal, stunning, blue. Then, last but not least, the President-Elect of these United States walks to face the West Lawn of the Capital with 720,000 faces staring back, all anticipating the coming oath.

This was my first pause. On stage stood the most powerful men and women of my world, our world. The people who stood before me, are the select group of individuals, elected by we the people who we have collectively agreed are the best to lead the world in which we live. To me, that is beyond comprehension.

What struck me the most, was not the few that stood on stage, but the 720,000 who stood in front of it. These people here, they are the real leaders, the millions of citizens at home, watching this broadcast – those are the leaders, me, I am a leader of the country. We elected them to be our guides, our lawmakers, our protectors.

Then our anticipation is satisfied: “. . . that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States,” our Commander-in-Chief begins, “and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” officially the transfer of power has been executed.

Then, as 44 men have done before him, he begins his speech, “The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans,” he will say. This made me proud - proud to be an American, proud to live in a country whose leader is there for me.

Though each president has something unique to say, the 45^th man to pledge his allegiance to the people of the United States meant something more to me. This is the first time in my life that I had the opportunity to vote for a leader, and to hear that leader, the man I and millions of other chose to guide the country gave me chills. This man is dedicating his life to me, to my country, to my friends and my family. My world is in his hands. He then lets us know he is listening, “Everyone is listening to you now . . . And this, the United States of America, is your country.”

After 20 years of living, I finally understood what it meant to be an American. It means that your political party doesn’t matter, it means that the gender you are, the person you love, the career you choose, your race, or religion isn’t something to be determined by anyone but yourself. It means that I have a job to love my countrymen for what we all aspire to be – better Americans. Our president proclaimed, “I will fight for you with every breath in my body -- and I will never, ever let you down,” and I stand in solidarity with him, with you, and truly believe, “through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.” Being an American means equality, acceptance, striving for a better us, it means “We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity,” because we are only stronger together. Our country only has as much strength as the weakest among us, and it is our duty as fellow Americans to make this land a better place in which to live.

I am proud to have had this opportunity at the ultimate American experience. I was able to see firsthand the opportunity and unity our America has to offer. Our country is nothing without us, we must be the ones to keep our leaders in check, we must have the strength to march for what we believe in and stand in solidarity with those who share the same beliefs. At the end of the day, no matter your skin color, the language you speak, or the god you worship, we all sleep under the same stars, we all salute the same red, white, and blue, and we all have the same dream – to each day go to bed in a better world than the one we woke up in.

“We are one nation and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams, and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny.” With those words, I stood there, one man in a million, but most importantly as one united nation, proud to be an American.