Once again gathering my many awkward and bulky things I shuffled on to the platform and into Union Station. Somehow missing my friends Bill and Laura I wondered all the way outside with a cell phone that had finally recharged itself up and called them only to discover they were behind me at the platform. We met up, piled into the car, and off we went back to their magnificent home occupying a whole building of its own in DuPont Circle where Bill is Commissioner of the neighborhood.
This fact of his foray into politics alone cracked me up. I’m absolutely convinced he was made for just a calling, and will thrive unbridled into the throes of this field, but I don’t know, just me being good friends with a guy who’s “Commissioner” makes me giggle. Especially since Bill likes to call himself DuPontius Pilate and spent the week and a half I was there trying to recruit me to reside in DC with me as his trusty sidekick. To top all of this off, we’d all go off to dinner and Laura and I would be lingering outside some local business as Bill made his rounds in sorting the great trash compactor question of ’07. Enthusiastic and motivated, he shall truly make his mark.
Much of these ten days I spent with them, though, I can’t say I was too entertaining of a guest since my main focus was the Daughters of the American Revolution Library. A haven of information it was for me. Everyday I’d wake up around the crack of 10 and meander down the street to the DAR, as we in the know like to call it, and pour over history books in search of the names, dates, and locations of my past. One day I made my way all the way down to the Library of Congress, but it was nowhere near as user friendly and the most useful thing I got out of it was a user ID card that had a mildly amusing picture. For the most part, though, I was all day, everyday down at the DAR laboring over my genealogy acquiring so many copies of books that when I got back home I’d spend most of the time sorting that information out again until Bill and Laura got home.
When they did get home we’d generally go out to dinner then come home to TV visiting all the while so it was nice all around. Very leisurely. The DC visit on a whole was perfect for what I needed after those six months of straight work, generally 50-60 hours a week. In fact, despite all this reclining and dining out it still wasn’t quite getting through my head that I wasn’t working anymore and was in fact finally on the vacation I’d been looking forward to.
The last weekend of my stay there was a nice bit of a shift up in the house to jog the flow of the days. A family of five, plus a boyfriend, all drove up from North Carolina which was great fun. The parents Mary Jo and Daniel were quite skilled in the art of being a big family on vacation and seemed to maneuver their mass in a way that was perfect for visiting but not getting overwhelmed. I really enjoyed them, plus southerners are just always fun and friendly it seems.
By the end of the visit Bill and put his last emphasis into his bid for me to choose DC as a home when I land after this, just as Wendie had done for Seattle over these past few months before I left. I kind of like this city promoting I’m getting from everyone since I’m up in the air again, it reminds me of campaigning for the Olympics or something. I’m even getting some bids from Denver folks over email. I feel loved. Anyway, Bill, Laura, and I all had a really good conversation the last night I was there about what I’m doing these days. It’s exactly what I’m focusing on these days, and especially on this trip, so it was great to have their insight as settled friends to help advise me along.
Before moving along I would like to share the biggest genealogical information that I discovered in these ten days of intense study, and I didn’t even come across it at the DAR. It was on my way home from the DAR that my sister called to tell me she’ll be getting married next year. Well fancy that, the tree does branch up as well.