Thursday, June 17, 2010

Living the dream

I'm living a dream. Let me explain...

I came to DC just over 5 years ago. Captured by Patomac fever, I was whisked away into an exciting adventure that included fancy receptions, organizing events, weekend trips to NYC, workin' it in Colonial 1, road trips, dating, international travel - let's be honest, I've been living my dreams.

I've learned so much in the past five and a half years in DC. For example, I learned what POTUS means (and a hundred other acronyms). I learned how to think about issues and develop my own opinions. I learned to "get over it" after breakups. How to make ends meet and take care of myself. Where traffic violations are photo enforced. Live with other people. Feel confident in a conversation with nearly anybody (i.e., cute guys who made me nervous to highly influential old men and women to people under five). I learned my style and what i like. I honed skills in processing waivers, deviation memos and reprogramming requests (I'm a pro at those). I could go on and on - I've learned a lot here.

I like to look back and see what I've built. I don't mean buildings or wealth, but I've built a mansion full of wonderful relationships. I think all of us feel like we aren't known at times, that we don't have many friends. But I look back and see that that's entirely silly. I have built at least a hundred rooms in my mansion and good and wonderful friends abide in them.

DC has been full of fabulous adventures. Scroll down through my blog and you'll see what I mean. But somehow, through much of my time here I wondered if the grass was greener elsewhere. Somewhere along the way, I quit that wonder and started to invest in here - the place I was in. I started to feel content, forgot about pursuing an escape. Just when I've come to this point... my latest update:

Drum roll....

Ben got a job in the legal department at a company in the Denver area! Now I'm living another dream: amazing fiance who just graduated from law school and is sweeping me away to a fresh start together in the West. :) Sounds like something I dreamed of when I got here over five years ago.

The best thing about Denver is that there are a lot of layovers there and sometimes the weather might get you stranded in the airport. If that ever happens to you, call me! I'll come by and we'll grab lunch or you can camp on my couch through the storm.

Speaking of dreaming... it's 12:31AM and time for me to go to bed!