Washington D.C.

Over the past week, I have been asked why it is that I so very much love living in the Nation's Capital ?   This is a fair question - particularly because I grew up in the rural farm town of Ferndale, and most of our immediate family on both sides live at least 3,000 miles away.  Not to mention we own a house there, and miss fabulous friends near and dear to our hearts.

Hmm... here's a stab at it ~

• people.  So very many people of so many different varieties.  It's not that I'm the type to strike up small talk with the lady next door, or collect stories about people's lives around me to hang up on an invisible bulletin board.  In fact, I'm actually not very social at all.  I don't go out with friends.  I'm not even good at seeking out friends!  Heck, I barely call the ones I have.  But I LOVE people.  The fact of people.  The nature of people.  The buzz and energy of people.  I love looking out my window and seeing people walk by. I love having loads of people to pass me by as I walk to the coffee shop down the street.  I love the art, the culture, the life that simply having so many different people in an area provides.  And let me tell you, D.C. has PEOPLE.
• jobs.  For my husband. For myself. Jobs we both love and want to get up for in the morning.  Jobs that enrich both of our lives.
• history.  Ok, I know.  Jasper - stop laughing.  I know my husband is cracking up now, and has quite possibly stopped reading this post. :)  I am not one who enjoyed learning history in class.  Dates, times, names... they all elude me.  My brain just won't hold on to them and line them up in a nice sequential line that tells the tale of people (see above why I love people).  But touching history.  Breathing it.  Feeling its ghosts around you.  Now, that's different.  That's incredible.  That's something that draws me in and captivates me.  D.C. is rich with this kind of touchable, breathable, tangible history.  It permeates every day.
• weather.  Seriously, people.  I do like the humidity.  Now, I'll outwardly complain alongside the next sane person in 99% humidity with 100 degree weather...(I'd be a fool not to)... but secretly, I love it.  I adore it.  And I love that it only lasts for the summer.  That there is a clearly defined rhythm of seasons here... though fall and spring seem abrupt, they are certainly present and distinct.  Winter brings snow.  Flowers have discernible life spans.  Fireflies have a season. As do ants and mosquitos.  Everything has its own time.  And my body and mood can shift and change along with the season.  Rain even brings a welcome cozy indoorsy feeling.  And the thunderous rain with the big storms in summer bring an energy unlike any I enjoyed as a child in the mild climate of the Pacific Northwest.  
• grandeur.  I kind of tipped my chin down and whispered this one.  I'm embarrassed to admit, that I love the largeness, the imposingness, the intimidating nature of this city.  Its broad, low, heavy buildings.  The ulcer-inducing traffic circles.  The fact that the President and Governmental heart reside and work here.  D.C. has an air that I don't like to meet head-on when greeted with it at a cocktail hour or dinner reception, but I do enjoy knowing that it is there.  I get a guilty pleasure from knowing that I'm living and working in it too.
• opportunity.  This place is central to not only our country, but is a vital piece of the larger world.  You can practically see the web of opportunities emanating from it like rays on a sunburst.  'The world is your oyster' this city seems to murmur.  
• energy.  Need I say more?  Just one visit to D.C. and you'll know what I mean.
• being.  This city has something more intangible about it.  A certain gritty, no-nonsense, honesty.  You won't perhaps notice at first, as you see the people running up or down the escalators because they're always racing to the next thing.  But it's there.  Here - you just live your life.  So many different people from so many different places...there is more than one single idea out there of how to live life.  Few pretend 'niceties'.  Late for work? Speed.  Tired? Get a quadruple latte and stop fussin.  Not interested/ing?  don't talk.  Not really friends? don't need to fake it.  Friends?  uber-loyal.  Now, I have to say this with a caveat because probably most of the people here do have a circle that they need to act a certain way in.  But for me?  I feel freedom to be whoever I am.  Here, you can choose from a plethora of "circles".
• suits.  I love a man in a suit.  Keep wearing yours, sweetheart.
• why not?  Truth is, I'd live just about anywhere on the globe.  (okay, maybe not Lynden.) I'm a gypsy at heart, though too practical to be one by practice.  This world is a big place.