Today was the first day that I felt a little twinge of
sadness about leaving Washington. This last week has really snuck up on me.
Especially with the hurricane forcing us to work from home earlier this week,
today was my first foray back to work and my first realization that I’m leaving
in three short days.
Wow.
I can’t believe two years have gone this fast. There have
been so many beautiful things about DC. So much history and free museums.
Really excellent food and quirky neighborhoods. Great shopping and plays and
events. The possibility of running into a famous politician or seeing an Obama
motorcade or maybe even a celebrity. It’s the place our country began, and I’m
continually humbled when I walk a few blocks to pick up lunch and realize that
I’m standing on the same ground as the men who build this nation. I see the
Washington monument every day. I live three miles from Arlington Cemetery. My
office is two blocks from the White House. It’s a pretty incredible place.
This was also the place I became an adult. I turned 25
living here. I learned how to really live on my own. I made some great friends;
I ended one job and started another; I learned how to make a roast. I’ve lived
in my solitary 600 square feet and learned so much about life and love and work
and friendships. And it’s been really great….except for how much I’ve missed
the rest of my life in Pittsburgh. It’s so hard for me to believe that two of
the two-and-a-half years that M and I have been together have been 250 miles
apart. I love that our relationship has survived this challenge, and I’m so
excited for what the next years will bring. I’ve missed the girls that were my
high school best friends, several of whom live in Pittsburgh now and I dearly
miss. And ever since my uncle passed away, I’ve been more glaringly aware that
my parents are getting older and that I need to spend as much time with them as
I can.
Even though a job pays the bills and brings a lot of
relevance and importance to my life, these other things are not even
comparingly important. And admitting this feels really good. I’m so excited to
leave my job at work at come home to our new house to spend the evening with M.
I’m excited to make dinner and go to the gym and watch network television with
people that I love instead of sitting alone in my apartment and worrying about
the next work day. I hate the stressed, angry and bitter person my current position
has made me, and I’m gratefully looking forward for a change to start over.
Both personally and professionally.
So even though I’ll miss the fame and the food and the
fantastic-ness of Washington, nothing can compare to the love and the family
and the home that I’m coming to in Pittsburgh. I can’t wait to see all of you.
To starting over,
Lia
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