Sometimes James and I talk about how weird it is to refer to coming back to DC as coming home. No one seems to think of this city as home. People pass through for a six-month internship, a one year stint in a first job, or a two year stay until an election sends them back home. No one seems to put down roots here, and thus everyone is constantly passing from one thing to the next, perpetually looking for something better. And who even knows how much longer we will be here, but for now it feels like home, our first home.
Over the next two months you are going to hear a lot of nasty things about this city. During elections it seems that Washington becomes the seat of everything that is wrong with the country. It is the symbol of gross spending, flagrant waste, diminishing virtue, empty words and broking promises. Everyone up for election this fall insists that they are not like this city, that they will not become like it, and they will turn it back to how it should be.
And a lot of that is true.
But in spite of it all, I do kind of love the city. Yes, it is the center of so much of what is wrong with our nation, but it also has constant reminders of so much of what is right, what has been right. There is beauty, history, and hope intermingled with the pessimism, negativity, and corruption.
Last weekend we picnicked across from the Jefferson Memorial, and reveling in such a perfect late summer evening you could almost forget that you were in a city that the rest of the country frequently despises.
The Art in Life 
It will always hold a special place in your heart no matter how long you are there because it is your FIRST home… and first’s are always special! Soak up every single moment of every new experience, someday when you are inundated with the ordinary moments in life you will have that to remember fondly!!
Thanks Tina! We are indeed trying to soak all of it up, because who knows how long we will get to stay!
I sympathize with much of what you say. I have chosen/been chosen to set roots in a city many hate. I too have a love/hate relationship with the beauty, commercialism, history, superficiality, hope and godlessness of the City of Angels. I look forward to your continued insights into a place loved and loathed.
Thanks Jeremy! How bout you come visit me in my city and I’ll come see you in yours?
I loooove DC. That’s were I met my hubby and where I started life on my own. I still have fond memories of our time in DC. Looks like you will as well. I know I will come back and see it with different eyes but for me it will always be the place where I had my first real job and were I met my best friend.