LaKeitha Carlos was at home in Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon and decided to check the flights to Chicago, just in case.
A last-minute ticket was only $194.
Carlos took a moment to reflect on how, eight years earlier, she had worked as an organizer in Atlanta to get Barack Obama elected president, marking her start in politics. The wife and mother only briefly considered her choice: Should she drop everything to see the president one last time?
Two hours later, she was on a plane, wearing an Obama T-shirt and overcome with emotion.
As Obama said goodbye and thanked supporters on Tuesday night in his adopted hometown of Chicago, the occasion marked the unofficial countdown to the end of his historic presidency. The first black president's words resonated across the country for many African-Americans finally able to bask in seeing a family that looked like them in the White House.
After eight years, the era comes to a close in 10 days.
The scene Tuesday was reminiscent of election night in 2008. Then, Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, greeted a cheering crowd in Grant Park in Chicago to claim victory at the end of a campaign run on hope and change. The Obamas were not yet in their 50s; their children, Malia and Sasha, were 10 and 7.
Tonight, he walked out alone. At times during the address, which lasted about an hour, there were shouts of "We love you!" from the crowd, who pleaded for four more years.
"I can't do that," Obama answered.
Tickets for Tuesday's once-in-a-lifetime speech were hard to come by. People waited for hours in the freezing cold Saturday to score seats to see Obama in person.
For Carlos, the nostalgia was powerful and her concern over an uncertain future strong.
"There were a few of us that believed that he could do it," she recalled ahead of the speech. "To see that come to fruition has been amazing. It's sad to be here tonight. In a way, it feels anticlimactic."
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