On Monday, the 13th, one week after the big move, I was fighting back tears on the bus on the way to the gym. I couldn't tell you what set me off, but I was suddenly overcome with sadness, once again. I pulled myself together and went to the gym, practiced Yoga for a couple of hours and felt so much better. I remembered my reading of "A New Earth" and "The Power of Now," gave myself a little talking to about how I need to begin accepting this life as it is right now--and finding ways to enjoy it. As Mom pointed out, "Philip won't let you have too much downtime." She was right!
Discovering Arlington
On Friday the 10th (Happy Birthday, Katie!), I stopped in at Gold's Gym in Ballston. Philip was nice enough to drop me off on his way home and mentioned that his partner, Todd, was there. I really was not expecting to see Todd--the gym is huge. But wouldn't you know, as I was touring around, there was Todd!
The Manager said to me, "You know Todd?"
I said, "Oh yeah, I've known Todd for a long time. He and Philip helped talk me into moving back here."
The Manager said, "Well, if you know Todd, I have to give you an even better deal." And he did. I've been going regularly ever since, and it goes a long way to making me feel at home here and keeping up my optimism. The classes are good, and it's only a 10 minute bike ride from KH4WW.
I also managed to nearly master the bus system--I never really paid much attention to buses when I lived her previously, I was definitely a "Subway Snob." But, I discovered that transfers between buses are free, the bus is generally cheaper than Metro, and I found routes to and from Philip's office that are convenient--I can even stop off at the gym on my way home. The one thing I have not quite mastered is the fact that this city sleeps--unlike New York, you know "the city that does not sleep." This means that past evening rush hour, one could wait quite some time for a bus--from 20 minutes to an hour. We all know I'm no big party animal (despite claims to the contrary from my friends in West Babylon referencing Little Rock), but even being out past 8 presents its challenges.
This week, I met with the new leader of the DC Chapter of Room to Read, a non-profit organization I love. Room to Read builds schools and libraries in developing countries, and also supports local language publishing. Their work is phenomenal, and I have been a fan ever since reading Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. The meeting was good--we had a great conversation and I think there's a good opportunity for me to really contribute as a volunteer to the re-forming chapter here. The focus will be on fundraising and events--I do know just a bit about events...
Finally, the last bit of excitement--my Arlington Public Library card arrived in the mail. Now I just have to get to the library!!
On the road again...
The main work event this week was Artscape in Baltimore. This is Philip's second year producing the Target Family Art Park at the country's largest free public arts festival. Originally the plan was for me to spend Friday-Sunday working the event. Early in the week, this changed to Thursday-Sunday. I went up to Baltimore to help with the setup--this involved making sure we had all of the supplies we were supposed to have and generally being an extra hand as Kristen supervised the building and decoration of the tent. Target does a lot of fantastic work around the country giving back, and this is one of the main ways they give back to communities--through participation/sponsorship of large festivals. Typically, they will set up an area for kids to learn and make a craft. Dufour & Co is one of a few event production firms they use around the country to help them produce these events. Here's a look at the finished product:
Basically, a team of us would work each day, making sure the tent was well supplied with the canvas bags for kids to decorate, activity books to color and the related supplies (markers, color pencils, etc.), as well as supervising the volunteers who were on hand to help everything go smoothly. We had fun! The days were long, typically from 9am-9pm, but as a bonus I got to meet up with Elaina and Rob, who are based in Baltimore, and the weather was gorgeous after a little bit of rain on Friday. Since the B&B where we stayed was very odd, I also had breakfast at Starbucks every day and got hooked on "treat receipts" in the afternoon. By the time we left Sunday night, I was ready for a day of sleep (which I did on Monday), lots of exercise and fresh veggies.One of the members of our Dufour & Co team was Bonnie, who is a friend of Philip's from his White House days. She has a few connections at the Department of Ed she's going to try to put me in touch with, so that was exciting!
And in other news...
Other than checking out cute guys at the gym, there has been absolutely no progress in the "find a man" department.
I did go to the movies with Kathryn, Marilyn, and a couple of Marilyn's colleagues--we saw Bruno. It's the first time in my life I can remember seriously considering walking out of a movie theater.
No comments:
Post a Comment