Life in Washington, D.C.

I learned a lot this week during Shane's and my visit to our nation's capital. I learned that not all of the First Lady's were wives of the Presidents: one was a niece, another was a daughter, and still another was a wife of a different President (Dolley Madison is listed as Thomas Jefferson's First Lady and was married to James Madison--interesting, for sure). I also learned about (and saw) a fabled bathtub in which a senator supposedly froze to death in the early 1900s. In case you ever wander down there (ha ha), it's located in the basement of the Capitol under the Senate chambers. After about 20 minutes of wandering and asking numerous people where it is, you will find it in the back of a maintenance room after you crawl up and down steps and through a small space. It's all highly suspicious, but kinda cute.

I digress...I also learned that you don't have to wait in long lines when your dad's a Congressman. And that he can get you into really, really cool places that you didn't even know you were missing out on before. I also noticed that everyone (really!) wears suits everyday. That Congress is in session late into the night and that my dad works way very, very hard. That the country is run by 22-year-old interns. That everyone is important in D.C., even us. That my Texas legs are not used to walking as much as those people do up there. That Howard Dean is really short and that pink is a good color on Hillary Clinton. That the Astros are fun to watch, even when the stadium (Robert F. Kennedy) is old and run-down. And many other things, of course.

But mostly I learned that I am so thankful that I do not live in that world. I could have (or at least I thought about it). I almost went to law school. I also applied for teaching jobs in that area. I also thought about interning up there. But I am so glad I didn't. Because up there, life is run by the clock. And it's a clock that keeps ticking and ticking, and ticks quickly. This clock guides every decision you make: whether you can or can't go to church, how long you can eat somewhere, what time you get up and what time you go to bed, how long you work, who you talk to, what you do. And once the day is over, the clock starts again. Go, go, go. No breaks. No time to pray. And if you stop to breathe, then you get left behind (or defeated in the election as is often the case). It is a life I do not covet and even regret that some people (like my dad) have to live that way.

Even though down here the clock keeps ticking and I, too, live by it to an extent, I still have free will and the option to do things that I want to do WITHOUT looking at the clock for guidance and purpose. Down here, I hope the Lord determines my path. I try to fit myself into his time and purpose rather than him into mine. Though I love to travel and experience new people and places, I also come back home with a newfound appreciation of my own life, in particular, the relaxed, easygoing days I am able to spend in the here and now because I live in a place that is not quite so rushed.