Ok, now that it's all out in the open and I have made three official rental payments in Arlington, I need (for the sake of closure) to talk a little bit about my decision to breakup with DC.
Let me take a quick moment to prepare myself...ok, I'm ready.
Breakups are never easy - we all know how painful they can really be (and if you don't know, just nod your head and say "yes Faith, I know exactly what you are talking about - breakups completely suck", because, quite frankly, it's beyond my personal sense of justice that somebody in this world has not experienced being dumped) and my relationship with DC has been longer than any of my other relationships up to this point -with the exception of my 18 year relationship with Attica, Indiana...but I was young then.
Everyone has a special city/town/neighborhood in their past - the place where you started to figure out who you are and where you fit into the whole scheme of things. Billy Joel had NYC, John Mellencamp had small-town Indiana, Bruce Springsteen had the state of New Jersey. It could be your hometown, it could be your college town or it could be the place you moved when you were 23 years old...to live in a group house in a slightly sketchy urban neighborhood...and work at a non-profit...and make no money...and have an adventure. Wherever it is and whatever phase of life you spent there, we all have a place whose streets hold memories that no other place ever could.
DC, you have meant a lot to me.
It's true, you are kind of screwed up. People say it all of the time and while I will always stand my ground and stick up for you, part of me knows it's true. You are the problem child of the east coast - NYC is bigger and more exciting, Boston is smarter and more athletic, Philadelphia is older and has that whole cheese-steak thing, Baltimore is....well, ok, Baltimore is pretty messed up too. You, though, you are the one who breaks everyone's heart because we all know you have huge potential but you just constantly f*& things up (I'm sorry...there's just no other way to say it). People come from all over the world to visit but the National Mall (the big draw) is slowly falling apart and there is constantly nastiness (ex: dead mutant birds and used-looking condoms) floating around in the Tidal Basin, the school system is one of the best funded in the country yet kids make it to high school without being able to read or write, the Nats just got a brand new beautiful stadium and still can't win a game to save their lives and, most importantly, Marion Berry remains in office and keeps getting elected.
I know it's not completely your fault and I understand you have issues - like abandonment. You are a city of transition by nature as administrations come and go every 4 years, college students come and go every school year, and those crazy interns come and go with the seasons. Young, bright-eyed, college graduates with dreams of making it in politics or making a difference in the non-profit sector move into group houses with gusto, use your metro everyday, sit in your coffee shops afternoon after afternoon, loiter in Dupont Circle, get drunk and stagger around Adams Morgan and then, all of a sudden *poof* they're gone. They go back to their "real life" in the midwest and you are left with their forwarding address in Iowa and the the two months left on their Washington Sports Club membership. It's not easy and I understand completely - a few of those people have been my friends and I miss them too.
The truth is, as one of the few who has stuck around, I've put up with a lot over the past 6 years. I've loved my life in the district lines and have looked past a lot of your faults because I really wanted things to work but you have made it really, really hard. I've lost a laptop, a lot of cheap jewelry, random dvds and faith in the system in 2 home invasions and Lumi has lost 2 side view mirrors while just sitting, parked on the side of the road . Constant jury duty (thanks to the small number of eligible jurors in the District) was exciting at first...but got old fast. This could seem like it's coming out of left field, bu I've seen a whole, whole lot (an abnormal amount, actually) of men pleasuring themselves in public. I see it walking past a public park benches on a Sunday afternoons... on the side of the sidewalk during my morning run... walking up the stairwell of my old apartment building (true stories - all of them)...why, DC, why? I've spent HOURS at various offices of the DMV - hours of my life I will never get back. And the traffic! If it's not the ambulances it's the police cars and if it's not the police cars it's the tourists from Idaho (no offense to Idaho-ans, I just picked a state) who don't know which quadrant they are supposed to be in (is there a difference between U Street NW and U Street SE?...ummmm yes, yes there really, really is) and if it's not the tourists it's the damn motorcades - I don't know how any of us get anywhere.
So, why did I stay so long? because, DC, you have personality. I love your quirks and your weirdness and the fact that bizarre things happen every day. I love the metro and that I can jaunt all over the city and outlying areas without a car. I love that all of the streets are walkable and bikable. I love that there is a huge park running through the city (ok, yes, the occasional body is found there but it's usually safe). I love that I can just as easily run into a member of Congress on Capitol Hill as an old friend on the Mall, and that I'm almost 100% guaranteed to see Matthew Lesko(the question mark guy from the "I can teach you how to apply for government money" infomercials)anywhere and any time in Adams Morgan. I love Caps games (especially now that they win a lot) and the Nats games (even though they never, ever, ever win). I love the cherry blossoms in the spring. I love that on any given summer afternoon you will find gazillions (yes, gazillions) of games of kickball and softball being played all over the Mall. I love that you can hear 5-10 different languages walking down the street of pretty much any neigborhood in the city. I love that everything is a political statement - even the license plates. Strangely, I actually love that everything is about 20 times more difficult than it really needs to be and that nobody goes out of their way to make it any easier because, as a result, when you get something done in DC it's because you worked hard for it and you can be truly proud. I still remember crying (actually crying) tears of joy when after weeks and weeks of trying I successfully registered my car for the first time. I love sitting in the solidude of Haines Point and watching planes take off from Reagan National. I love the sunshine salad at Laurial Plaza. I love hearing the drum circle as I walk past Meridian Park on summer Sunday afternoons. I love that random helicopters fly over constantly (sometimes DC helicopters with search lights and sometimes military-ish looking helicopters with no apparent purpose). Most importantly, I love all of the memories.
DC, you will always have a special place in my heart and while I know that moving to Arlington was sort of selling out, life here is a lot easier. I'm 30 now (ancient, really) and it was time for a change - work is here, Dave is here, my grocery store is here, taxes are cheaper here, I feel a little bit safer here, and Lumi is closer to his mechanic here.
It's not you, it's me...I'm tired of working so hard.
...and this is the tough part - since I'm approximately 2 minutes away by car and 5 minutes by metro, it's really important to maintain a strong working relationship. I still have a lot of obligations within the district lines so it would be best if we got along - no hard feelings?
I'm glad we've had this talk and I'm going to go ahead and change my profile city on my myspace and facebook pages (making it official)...it's going to hurt but I can't keep living a lie.
God speed DC...and God Bless.
Let me take a quick moment to prepare myself...ok, I'm ready.
Breakups are never easy - we all know how painful they can really be (and if you don't know, just nod your head and say "yes Faith, I know exactly what you are talking about - breakups completely suck", because, quite frankly, it's beyond my personal sense of justice that somebody in this world has not experienced being dumped) and my relationship with DC has been longer than any of my other relationships up to this point -with the exception of my 18 year relationship with Attica, Indiana...but I was young then.
Everyone has a special city/town/neighborhood in their past - the place where you started to figure out who you are and where you fit into the whole scheme of things. Billy Joel had NYC, John Mellencamp had small-town Indiana, Bruce Springsteen had the state of New Jersey. It could be your hometown, it could be your college town or it could be the place you moved when you were 23 years old...to live in a group house in a slightly sketchy urban neighborhood...and work at a non-profit...and make no money...and have an adventure. Wherever it is and whatever phase of life you spent there, we all have a place whose streets hold memories that no other place ever could.
DC, you have meant a lot to me.
It's true, you are kind of screwed up. People say it all of the time and while I will always stand my ground and stick up for you, part of me knows it's true. You are the problem child of the east coast - NYC is bigger and more exciting, Boston is smarter and more athletic, Philadelphia is older and has that whole cheese-steak thing, Baltimore is....well, ok, Baltimore is pretty messed up too. You, though, you are the one who breaks everyone's heart because we all know you have huge potential but you just constantly f*& things up (I'm sorry...there's just no other way to say it). People come from all over the world to visit but the National Mall (the big draw) is slowly falling apart and there is constantly nastiness (ex: dead mutant birds and used-looking condoms) floating around in the Tidal Basin, the school system is one of the best funded in the country yet kids make it to high school without being able to read or write, the Nats just got a brand new beautiful stadium and still can't win a game to save their lives and, most importantly, Marion Berry remains in office and keeps getting elected.
I know it's not completely your fault and I understand you have issues - like abandonment. You are a city of transition by nature as administrations come and go every 4 years, college students come and go every school year, and those crazy interns come and go with the seasons. Young, bright-eyed, college graduates with dreams of making it in politics or making a difference in the non-profit sector move into group houses with gusto, use your metro everyday, sit in your coffee shops afternoon after afternoon, loiter in Dupont Circle, get drunk and stagger around Adams Morgan and then, all of a sudden *poof* they're gone. They go back to their "real life" in the midwest and you are left with their forwarding address in Iowa and the the two months left on their Washington Sports Club membership. It's not easy and I understand completely - a few of those people have been my friends and I miss them too.
The truth is, as one of the few who has stuck around, I've put up with a lot over the past 6 years. I've loved my life in the district lines and have looked past a lot of your faults because I really wanted things to work but you have made it really, really hard. I've lost a laptop, a lot of cheap jewelry, random dvds and faith in the system in 2 home invasions and Lumi has lost 2 side view mirrors while just sitting, parked on the side of the road . Constant jury duty (thanks to the small number of eligible jurors in the District) was exciting at first...but got old fast. This could seem like it's coming out of left field, bu I've seen a whole, whole lot (an abnormal amount, actually) of men pleasuring themselves in public. I see it walking past a public park benches on a Sunday afternoons... on the side of the sidewalk during my morning run... walking up the stairwell of my old apartment building (true stories - all of them)...why, DC, why? I've spent HOURS at various offices of the DMV - hours of my life I will never get back. And the traffic! If it's not the ambulances it's the police cars and if it's not the police cars it's the tourists from Idaho (no offense to Idaho-ans, I just picked a state) who don't know which quadrant they are supposed to be in (is there a difference between U Street NW and U Street SE?...ummmm yes, yes there really, really is) and if it's not the tourists it's the damn motorcades - I don't know how any of us get anywhere.
So, why did I stay so long? because, DC, you have personality. I love your quirks and your weirdness and the fact that bizarre things happen every day. I love the metro and that I can jaunt all over the city and outlying areas without a car. I love that all of the streets are walkable and bikable. I love that there is a huge park running through the city (ok, yes, the occasional body is found there but it's usually safe). I love that I can just as easily run into a member of Congress on Capitol Hill as an old friend on the Mall, and that I'm almost 100% guaranteed to see Matthew Lesko(the question mark guy from the "I can teach you how to apply for government money" infomercials)anywhere and any time in Adams Morgan. I love Caps games (especially now that they win a lot) and the Nats games (even though they never, ever, ever win). I love the cherry blossoms in the spring. I love that on any given summer afternoon you will find gazillions (yes, gazillions) of games of kickball and softball being played all over the Mall. I love that you can hear 5-10 different languages walking down the street of pretty much any neigborhood in the city. I love that everything is a political statement - even the license plates. Strangely, I actually love that everything is about 20 times more difficult than it really needs to be and that nobody goes out of their way to make it any easier because, as a result, when you get something done in DC it's because you worked hard for it and you can be truly proud. I still remember crying (actually crying) tears of joy when after weeks and weeks of trying I successfully registered my car for the first time. I love sitting in the solidude of Haines Point and watching planes take off from Reagan National. I love the sunshine salad at Laurial Plaza. I love hearing the drum circle as I walk past Meridian Park on summer Sunday afternoons. I love that random helicopters fly over constantly (sometimes DC helicopters with search lights and sometimes military-ish looking helicopters with no apparent purpose). Most importantly, I love all of the memories.
DC, you will always have a special place in my heart and while I know that moving to Arlington was sort of selling out, life here is a lot easier. I'm 30 now (ancient, really) and it was time for a change - work is here, Dave is here, my grocery store is here, taxes are cheaper here, I feel a little bit safer here, and Lumi is closer to his mechanic here.
It's not you, it's me...I'm tired of working so hard.
...and this is the tough part - since I'm approximately 2 minutes away by car and 5 minutes by metro, it's really important to maintain a strong working relationship. I still have a lot of obligations within the district lines so it would be best if we got along - no hard feelings?
I'm glad we've had this talk and I'm going to go ahead and change my profile city on my myspace and facebook pages (making it official)...it's going to hurt but I can't keep living a lie.
God speed DC...and God Bless.
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