Virginia is for Lovers

So I am a little bit (or a lot) sad about the packing I have been working on lately. Now, as I whine about this, please know I realize that there are things way sadder than having to leave a beautiful city to go home, to your home, your family, and friends.  I am not at all begging for sympathy votes here, as I realize that the end of my 5 month adventure in Virginia and DC is not really a great tragedy.  To me; however, it is an end of a great love affair.  I love this place.  I get such a rush and an energy every time I get off the metro and step out onto a street in Washington, D.C.  (No offense meant for anyone here who loves Amarillo, or the people I love in Amarillo.)  I live in Amarillo because I live in Amarillo.   I live in Amarillo because that is where I was born and that is where I have been.  I do not live in Amarillo because I love it. I guess I never chose to live there.  I just accepted where I was as where I would be and never thought twice of it.

 I moved away one time when I was 18 to go off to college to follow a boy.  I didn't go there because it was my dream.  I was just riding the coat tails of someone else's dream.  I didn't love it.  I didn't come here because it was my dream either. In a way I did it for a boy, well two boys.  This time, it worked out.  I also did it to try something new, to think outside the box, to see what it would be like to have a fresh start with my family, and to take advantage of a great opportunity.

I had no expectation of falling in love with this city. To be honest, I had no expectation of leaving my apartment without Tosh.  I knew nothing of the area.  All I knew was that in the 80s (as Tosh reminded me of numerous times before we got here) D.C. might have been the rape and murder capital of the world. (or something like that).  So, my goal was just to come out alive. (In case that doesn't come through properly, I am kidding.)

I have come out alive, in a much bigger way than I joked. I feel ALIVE.  I feel like a dirty old penny someone polished.  During our weekend in New York City, I remember skipping out of a store.  I literally skipped out with my hands in the air as I approached my husband and son sitting on a window sill eating bagels.  I never knew a city could change how you feel.

I kind of think that Virginia will be like my Vietnam but in a positive way. I will tell "old war stories." I may sit around in my "Virginia is for Lovers" or "I D.C>" shirt when I am old and tell Finn's children about all those good ole days of when I was stationed there for five months back in the summer of 2012.