As the United States prepares for a new chapter with Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday, Jenna Bush Hager is reflecting on the unique period of her life when she lived in the White House.
The news presenter opened up about the close bond first families share with White House staff, sharing an anecdote about when she and her twin sister Barbara met an employee, florist Nancy Clarke.
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Writing in Maria Shriver's newsletter, The Sunday Paper, Jenna recalled: "We met an incredible woman named Nancy Clarke, who was a florist, and she took us down to the floral shop and we made bouquets for our grandparents' bedside.
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"Years later she did the flowers for my wedding when I married my husband, Henry. Everyone asks what makes the White House feel like home and it's the people — many of whom are lifetime employees — who fill it with this beautiful spirit of family."
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Jenna's first Inauguration Day memory was from first grade, when her grandfather George H. W. Bush was sworn in as US President.
"We didn't quite understand the significance of it," the Today with Jenna & Hoda star said of herself and her sister Barbara. "We just saw somebody that we loved being sworn into office. We loved balloons and the parade. And we're from Texas so even just to be in Washington when it was cold and beautiful and wintery – it was almost like living a dream."
© Photo: Getty ImagesJoe Biden pictured with sisters Barbara and Jenna in the White House
"My grandpa was such a humble man that when he was with us, he was so present, getting on the ground and playing with us and reading to us," she added. "So, when we were young, we never really knew the gravity of what was happening, and I think that was a lot because of him. His role as a grandfather, as a father, as a husband – his family came before anything else."
Jenna's grandfather George H. W. Bush served as president from 1989 to 1993, while her father George W. Bush succeeded Bill Clinton and was in office from 2001 to 2009.
Her twin sister Barbara has previously spoken about walking into the White House for the first time, telling the Today show: "Just because you can't imagine being in such a huge, magical place. When we were older and we got to go back, there was, of course, a familiarity with it, which was very comforting."
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