An Ode to my Friends

I have to write this right now. I just do. I am blessed with the most wonderful people in my life. It's easy to feel like I do everything myself, like I'm totally independent and 100% capable of relying on me, myself, and I all the time. But I'm not. I am not super woman. I have some moments of being pretty super, but I also sometimes crumble, and gosh-- my safety net of caring, beautiful people is always there even when I don't seek it. It's like you guys just know. Actually, you do. You just know. How truly lovely.

I have friends who are also family, like my mom, brother, sister, aunts, cousins, etc. When I was 13, my mom was very much my mom, and it's been so much fun to grow up so that she can be my friend, too. I like being old enough to not bicker with my siblings and just have them as confidants and friends-- people who have known me for a lifetime.

I have friends who are going through life's greatest challenges, dealing with hardships and hard lessons from life and who still manage to take the time to make sure we meet up for friend-dates and who check in with little emails and text messages. How did I get so lucky? How do I ever let this be taken for granted? Hopefully I do a good job at being part of the safety nets of my friends, too.

I have friends who know me. Really know me. Friends who can listen to me cry on the phone or who can hear nothing and understand exactly what is going on with me-- good or bad. I know that regardless of geographic distance or life events, we will always be friends. These are the friends that the conversation picks up right where it left off, no matter how much time has passed since we last saw each other, whether it was Sunday for a drive or last year for coffee during an airport layover.

I have friends who are fun, friends who are insightful, friends who love me, friends who write letters to me, friends in the West, friends in the East, friends overseas, old friends, new friends, and friends everywhere in between.

I have been slowly overwhelmed with little things piling up with my move, and I haven't been the best or most attentive friend lately, but I hope you all know how very much I care about you, and how very, very grateful I am to have you. Love always.

It's a haiku, too

This is of my mom.

I love this picture of her.

She's remarkable.

(that was a haiku... i did that by accident, but now i'm just impressed with my poetic prowess.)

Attention Doughnut Luvahs

Today is Friday. I love Fridays. Today is also, I just learned, National Doughnut Day. Does this make it the greatest Friday of the year? No, because I was in Hawaii on a Friday this year, but still, today is in the running.

I went for a swim this morning and do you know, I hadn't been in the pool in two and a half weeks. I have been so stinkin' busy that I have put that at the bottom of my to-do list. I'm not going to let it slip that far down my list of priorities ever again. It just makes me feel so  g o o d. And so happy. And sometimes inadequate, which I must admit I don't hate entirely because it gives me motivation to improve.

I am quickly running out of DC days. Panic that I won't have enough time to do everything is setting in. I will probably just accept sleep as a my lowest priority and be as busy with fun shenanigans as I can possibly be.

And can I just say, to the hobo who resides mainly outside of the Exxon on 2nd and Mass... Thank you for always keeping me up to date on what day of the week it is and for reminding me to not go skinny dipping. You're right, today is Friday and I probably shouldn't go skinny dipping. After all, this is an urban area, not a secluded beach. I'm pretty sure that skinny dipping in the whirlpool next to the workout pool would get me promptly kicked out and asked to please not come back. And you know, I will enjoy the weekend. Hopefully you enjoy yours, too. You always look so footloose when on your neighborhood bike rides with your hair blowing in the breeze.

Pack 'em up and move 'em out

Yesterday marked the end of a beautiful chapter of my life.

I packed up my life into a handful of boxes, 2 suitcases, and 3 Rubbermaid drawers.

I sorted out unneeded papers, junk I ended up with (where does this stuff come from?), and memories.

I took out innumerable bags of trash - seriously, how much old bathroom products can one accumulate?

I donated 5 large bags of clothing.

I fit all of the clothes I am keeping into a large rolling suitcase

and all of the clothes I'll wear between now and leaving DC into another.

I took art down from my walls, put all the loose change I found into one baggie,

and created a giant mound of documents that I have yet to sort and file.

I stared at the empty wine bottles above my kitchen cabinets and decided that I didn't have the heart to recycle those memories yet.

I cleared off my bedroom window sill, a place from which I've been admiring Capitol Hill for 18 months.

Oh gosh, I just realized I didn't pack my 110th, 111th, and 112th Congress mugs...

must. not. forget.

I did take a time out in order to eat We The Pizza and watch Moulin Rouge with Jenny.

Totally worth being up until 4am packing.

I'm not strong enough to carry my mattress downstairs (wait, all this time I thought I was Wonder Woman?)

so I have to figure out how to do that still.

I have absolutely adored living in my little house (except for one time when we got a rat), and I will miss it.

What a wonderful part of my life this has been!

<3