217 miles, 7 hour wait -- for a glimpse of the Pope

To Look, Perchance to Glimpse (on Tiptoe), by Manny Fernandez. New York Times April 20, 2008:

Ely Rivera drove 217 miles and waited nearly seven hours to see Pope Benedict XVI. In the end, at 8:56 a.m. on Saturday, when the big moment came, she thought not of herself, or of her church, or even of her four children or 14 grandchildren.

She thought of a woman she had never met: a co-worker’s ailing mother. “For her to get better,” Ms. Rivera said.

She had never seen a pope in person. She stepped up on the railing of a metal police barricade as the crowd roared and snapped a picture with her disposable camera, one of thousands of people lining Fifth Avenue outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral. She saw him, dressed in white, seated in the back seat of a black car, on the passenger side, on his way to celebrate Mass. And just like that, it was over ... (Read More)