Farewell, D.C.

I had spent some time thinking about what it would be like to move back to the Midwest, but I never really spent that much time even discussing about what I would miss about D.C.  What it boils down to me is the people.  As far as the area is concerned, there’s more about it that I won’t miss than I will.  Still, the Metro system, for all of its faults, will be sorely missed.  Public transportation where I’m going is nearly non-existent and a lot of what passes for public transportation is more accurately described as senior citizen buses for those not able to drive.  The area did have some other advantages, namely being so close to other places.  The East Coast in general is pretty densely packed and it’s nice knowing that getting up to New York, Pittsburgh and Philly were a rather minor matter.

But it is the friends I made that I’ll miss the most.  I won’t go over everything as there is just too much to mention–far too many things to bring up about the people we had the pleasure to get to know and cherish while we were there.  Instead, I’d like to bring up one moment that encapsulates the entire experience.

A group of us were sitting in Duffy’s on the Tuesday before we left, which coincidentally was one week ago today.  The ebbs and flows of the conversation went in many directions and the night was beginning to wrap up.  A few toasts had gone around earlier that night.  However it was when Rick offered up a singular toast, not to the entire table, but just to me (and Melanie in abstencia).  It’s one of the shortest toasts I’ve ever had the pleasure to be a part of, but the words themselves had a power to them that really shook me.  All Rick said was this:

“To time well spent.”

Nothing else I had said quite summed up everything I was feeling at that time, everything my heart wanted to say which Rick so neatly distilled into the essence of those four words.  I was glad that Rick was able to put into words how I felt when I could not.  And that is how I feel about our time in D.C.  Challenging times to be sure, but never a regret our being there and richer for the experience.