Hometown

Washington, D.C., 2016

We took the troops back to D.C. for my reunion weekend, which was both surreal and happy.

Seeing how lush and green the city is brought back a lot of memories: the flower boxes, magnolia trees, honeysuckle bushes, and dogwood trees; the buttercups growing up out of traffic islands and the winding old trees overhead. Plus a the feeling that the city is about this close to reverting to its semi-tropical original state, civilization be darned.

We drove around Capitol Hill, Palisades, and plenty of old haunts (which all seem to have been spruced up and have a little bit of a Brooklyn vibe, somehow.) It struck me both how beautiful the city was and how fortunate I was to grow up there. There's something about the light in Washington that's hard to describe: big moody thunderstorms followed by this kind of Southern, golden, dappled glow that hits all the buildings in a certain way.

I know some people cringe when they think of high school (ha, and there were moments), but I was reassured to see so many lovely people, many I am lucky enough to see on a regular basis. I sent them an e-mail last night when we got home saying that I am grateful I was sensible enough at the age of fourteen to have found them all.

Of course, taking the kids there was a wrangle. We charged through the Air and Space Museum in the rain, and spent a lot of time in the car doing loops of a familiar-feeling city in the hopes that someone would take a nap.

My attention span is so shot I barely really talked to anyone, but I am glad to have seen them nonetheless.

And then we drove back home, Ozzy shouting "NEW ORK" as soon as we saw the skyline.