I love how it smells. Not that putrid smell of dirt and sweat and trash NYC carries, but that sweet scent of light morning humidity lying lightly on your back mixed with the fresh greens of the trees and colorful blooming flowers.
I love the green of DC. Although I am in a metropolitan city, I can look all around me and see the magnificent green of the copious trees and tree lined parks.
I love the diversity. How I can walk down a street and see people of all different shapes, colors, sizes, creeds, and cultures. All enjoying DC in their own way and as one.
I love that I can stand at a crosswalk and hear the languages of the world without ever getting on a plane.
I love the intellect of DC. It breeds great conversations, debates, and discussions. It drives forwards ideas and protests and revolutions of thought.
I love the closeness and centrality of DC. I can hop on I-95 and go north 4 hours or south 8 hours to be with my family. I can hop on 66W and be with nature. I can hop on a plane and go around the world non-stop and for a reasonable price.
I became me in DC. I found who I am, what I'm good at, and some of my life's callings in DC. I accomplished amazing things at such a young age. I was way beyond my years in my career.
I learned of my life struggle and the burden I must carry, but more importantly I found that I have a greater strength within me to seek out the tools to help me overcome these struggles.
I found love in DC. Only five blocks away from me was a man I would share the rest of my life with. A man that I would laugh so hard with and find such joy in it hurts. A man that I could let all my guards down with and display all my insecurities to, still knowing that I will be held and cared for. A man I have and will continue to travel through the ups and downs with. In DC I found the man that I love.
Now don't get me wrong, I've see the dark side of DC as well....
I've seen the insidious effects of racial segregation. I've seen poverty at its worst.
I witnessed my first true and violent crime in DC.
I have been fearful at times in DC.
I have seen HIV ravish young lives.
But DC feels like home to me. With the good I take the bad.
I am open-minded. I am adventurous. And this is why I traveled away from DC. Maybe there is another city out there that is better. Maybe I'll like living somewhere else better. Maybe DC was just a stepping stone to something greater. I was willing to see. To try.
But so far there is no other place I feel so at home in. No other city that I connect with the way I do with DC. When I left DC I definitely left a piece of my heart and soul. And I only feel whole again when I return.
I'm scared though. If I were to return, would it be the same? Could I pick up from where I left off? Have people moved on without me and filled in my space leaving me no room to return? Will I be disappointed? Am I only remembering the very best feelings of DC and forgetting a bigger reason for leaving?
Or would moving forward in life back in DC be a different, but just as wonderful experience. Would I be truly whole again and find a new sense of fulfillment in DC?
