Our Nation's Capital

Like Boston, trips to D.C. now have to include specific things: baseball, hanging out, relaxing, beer, good food and greasy, cheap food. I feel like whenever vacation hits, some people want lots of plans, things to do, etc. I find myself wasting away mornings while my friends are at work, taking long showers, and thinking a lot. There's no real purpose to my days, and each would blend together if I didn't have my friends schedules to dictate time. Today I plan on taking the metro in and wandering around D.C. Maybe I will go by the townhouse I grew up in until I was four on E Street.

On Friday, my friend and I walked around and ate lunch on a park bench. We saw a movie that's a bunch of different little movies about Paris. We ate at a small restaurant on U Street and went out for drinks at a bar where we felt less than hip. We talked about the Wilco show the night before. Jeff Tweedy's hands in the air as he had the audience sing and clap along. And how weird it all was. We made fun of the people next to us and decided that we are both cursed with having crappy people sit next to us in public. Then again, we could have easily just ignored them.

We didn't talk about his upcoming move to Las Vegas, or how it only rains 4 inches per year. We didn't talk about how hard it can be to find people we connect with without some kind of investment or how the city you live in can change overnight the second you meet someone you can really relate to. We didn't talk about our jobs or how hot the weather is in D.C. I didn't talk about how much I'm going to miss him.

I feel like I've either got to stop believing I have this rare connection with a few people in my life or start trying to let more people in. I tend to hang on to those who I find very dear to my heart without giving others a chance to know what I really think. It's a lonely way of doing things and it often seems to disappoint me. Then again, I feel fully invested in those relationships that I've slowly built over a couple of years or those that happen instantly. There are just some people who make you feel completely content with who you are, yet completely wake you up. And I have a really hard time finding that in everyday life.

I head out to Louisville early tomorrow morning to visit my friends from Boston. I'm hoping it includes watching Felicity, a water park, a trip to Nashville, and great, long conversations over coffee and tea.