Unfiltered Story #298980

My mom used to work seasonally for a company that specialized in school trips. Springtime was their busiest season, so every year, she had a trip scheduled during the April vacations, which also happened to be where my birthday fell. A couple times she got permission from the owner of the company to have me tag along on their trips that fell on my birthday, provided I didn’t interfere with their schedule and I paid for my own meals, tickets, etc.

This particular year was my 26th birthday. We were in Washington, DC, and I had gotten a new camera for Christmas that I was using throughout the trip. It was around 9:30 PM. My mom had to wait around for about an hour while the school group attended their event. Since we were on the National Mall, my mom suggested I take my camera and get some night photos of the monuments and White House at night. I walked along the Ellipse to get as close as the gates would allow. A member of Security stopped me near the South Lawn and directed me to the closest spot allowed, which he advised would also be the best spot for pictures. As I’m taking photos and really just admiring my surroundings, unbeknownst to me, my mom had decided to come and meet me. She hadn’t gotten more than a third of the way around the Ellipse when she was stopped by another member of security. He didn’t let her go any further. She explained to him that her daughter had gone ahead of her, and that I was alone. He asked her how old I was (probably thinking I was a young child), and my mom replied….26. He told her to call my cell phone and tell me to come back, which I did. I briefly mentioned to my mom that I had been stopped by security, too, but I didn’t go into detail about our conversation.

The next morning, as we’re getting ready in our hotel room, a piece on the local news television station pops up: 26-year old arrested by Capitol Police at White House. My mom looks over to me, mouth gaping.
“What did you DO last night?!”

Obviously, I told her what actually happened, and we laughed it off. She ended up pranking both my dad and her coworker with the news bit and our story. Years later, we look back and laugh about it, and occasionally when a similar story pops up, my mom “accuses” me.