It's Good to Live in DC

Adam and I are really starting to enjoy living here in DC.  We've been socializing more than ever, mostly through visits from our out-of-town friends.  I think we've had just about one visit per month from people passing through town and the schedule is even more packed for the next couple of months. 

It's also exciting to be living in a real city again.  Today, Adam was on the train to New York for a workshop at Columbia University and was sitting across from the former commander of the U.S.S. Cole, from the time it was attacked.  Adam admires the U.S. military very much (he even considered a career in the military at one point) so this was a huge thrill for him.  (Apparently, the gentleman is scheduled to be on Hannity and Colmes tonight, I think discussing the shut-down of Guantanamo.  I hate that show but I'll have to watch it.)  You don't usually get to meet such interesting people on planes and trains when you live in East Lansing or Lexington, Virginia!  Although, come to think of it, we did meet Mayor Ray Nagin on a plane when we lived in New Orleans, but that was pre-Katrina so he wasn't quite that interesting yet. 

Adam has also made a ton of great contacts for work amongst the lobbyists and think tanks here in DC.  We've been able to attend every lecture of the Ayn Rand Center for the Advancement of Objectivism.  (I wonder why they changed their name.)  I'm going to a big homeschooling conference this summer, whose keynote speaker will be Susan Wise Bauer.  I've been meaning to read her book, The Well Trained Mind, for ages, so I'll have to get to that soon.

There is just so much going on all the time.  I don't need to plan anything.  In fact, I need to turn down quite a bit.  We have other friends in the outlying areas that we've been meaning to visit since we arrived...last May!  I think I need to put that on my to-do list or we'll always be too busy.

But not this week.  We need to get downtown to see the cherry blossoms.  I've never seem them in bloom.  Spring is just beginning here and we have white and pink flowers everywhere.  It's just beautiful.  Maybe it will be ok to live here after all.