i t z i e . d i a r y l a n d . c o m

Navel Gazing // 2006-05-04


I spent last week in DC at a conference. When my boss told me that they were going to send me to DC, I was thrilled. What a better time to be in the area than in the spring? Spring in the DC area is really wonderful. Yes, it's gorgeous in Seattle in the spring too (especially after a miserable, grey winter) - but there is something in the air in DC. I can walk out the door in DC and tell you that it "feels like" the first week of May. Seasons in Maryland and DC give me feelings - separate and distinct; they leave an imprint on your mind like certain scents do. It's hard to explain. Anyway, I was thrilled to be going back to DC. The bummer was that the conference was so long that I spent about twelve hours a day in the basement of a hotel listening to adoption legalese and politics. It was all extremely interesting, of course, and a great learning opportunity, but yeesh. By the end, my head felt full and I was having a hard time focusing.

On the plus side, I did get to see a few college friends who I had not seen in about eight years. I wonder how I could have possibly not kept in touch with them. It was so wonderful to see them and I felt like we picked up right where we left off. Right after dinner, I had this bittersweet feeling as I headed back to the hotel. I was still feeling high having seen them all again, but there was also a little bit of a sadness at not having had the time to really catch up and missing them (and some jealousy that they live so close to each other and can get together whenever they like).

I also got to visit with my family after the conference was over. They are all a little bit nuts, but I miss them too. There are two new rooms on the house now. I swear, every time I come home, there is a new room to that house. I have started referring to it as "The Compound" - because it is so sprawled out that that's exactly what it looks like. It's a freakin' rabbit warren inside.

I spent my afternoon, when everyone was at work, lying out in the grass, reading Prep. I don't even remember the last time I had enough free time to do that. Prep was pretty good. I'm not sure that I found the last chapter as believable as the rest of the book - or as easy to relate to. I really enjoyed the book though and I could relate to Lee's introspection and social anxiety. I was a lot like Lee when I was in middle school. I think what I really liked was that you could read it and see things from Lee's side, but you could also imagine what the story would have been like if a different character had told it. It made me look back on my middle school years and realize how I must have looked to other people (an interesting and yet also slightly uncomfortable thing to realize).

prev & next