washwords

Old friends, Old friends, Sat on their park bench, Like bookends.
A newspaper blown through the grass Falls on the round toes On the high shoes, Of the old friends.

***

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was A time of innocence, a time of confidences Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph Preserve your memories; they’re all that’s left of you, they’re all that’s left me to.

-Simon and Garfunkel, 1968

A month or so ago, no, undoubtedly it was longer now, an unknown number showed up on my phone. As is my practice, I didn’t answer. I often don’t answer the phone even when I know the caller- it scares me, disrupts my rhythm and flow of my days, or, in the case, quiet, writing evening. I especially don’t answer when I don’t recognize the number.

A minute later an email came through. This time from a name I DID recognize. “Just looking up old friends. How are you doing? Call me!” said the message from indeed an old friend, an old friend I hadn’t heard from in years, an old friend I once thought I loved, desparately, painfully, though now I know that feeling was just Read the rest of this entry »

A bright red sign reading: “PLEASE Turn off Lights when Leaving” greeted me bright and early at my Official Government Office Building when I returned from vacation today. I saw it first in the hallway, then another and another, then one in my office itself.

Besides the freakish capitalization and angled placement, besides my oft-repeated wonderings on HOW exactly someone is supposed to KNOW they’re the last one in or out (our office is a square city block and government analyst types, don’t, you know, TALK to each other), something else was creeping up on me, Read the rest of this entry »

Despite my fabulous spa vacation, and despite my snarkery about all things DC, in truth this is where I’m meant to be.

I loved relaxing on the beach, getting spa treatments and I’m grateful (SO grateful) to have the resources and time to treat myself so. I do feel refreshed in a way I know I desperately needed (the first clue was when I started getting annoyed, genuinely angry, at people asking me to do, you know, like WORK, at work). But… ultimately? the relaxed lazy meandering pace? not really for me. I’m a city girl at heart, at core, specifically a DC girl.

Getting back to town, we walked straight from gate to waiting cab to a heated treatise on what’s wrong with Read the rest of this entry »