WonL
The random thoughts of an architect-turned- lawyer from the deep south living in Washington, DC...
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Celebrity sighting
Apparently I'm the first person in over 20 years of his doing this that has asked to wear the coat. Whoda thought?
Labels: Just Plain Fun, Why I love DC
Monday, March 31, 2008
Simply Amazing
Welcome Home.
Red carpeted arrival
Red White & Blue balloon arches
Jazz bands
Sold out stadium
Ben's Chili Bowl halfsmokes
Curly "W" pretzels
Beer in souvenier Nats cups
Enormous American flags
F-16 flyover
Presidential first pitch
Baseball-shaped Washington Post stands
Teddy getting lost during the President's race
Helmet sundaes (albeit the wrong teams)
Snuggling under a blanket
Game-winning homerun in the bottom of the 9th !!!
Welcome Home.
Labels: Why I love DC
Monday, February 04, 2008
Karma's got my back
I am sometimes amazed at the level of jackassedness I encounter on my morning metro ride. I got onto the metro during rush hour and luckily there were a few seats. Of course, there were also a few folks that obviously never got the metro-etiquitte memo. Seriously dude, I don't care about your cleaning of the mold off the baseboards in your bathroom over the weekend. Judging by the look on your friend's face, he didn't care either.Where was I? Oh yeah, I find a seat and decide to take it. It's an empty seat on the inside that is blocked by a bitchy looking woman in the aisle seat. I approach her. She looks up at me, obviously unwilling to budge. I raise my eyebrows and point to the seat as if to ask, with merely the look on my face, "why are you blocking a seat during rush hour?" She seems unfazed. She moves her right knee 1/2" as if to signify to me "you can have the seat, but I ain't moving." I fumble my way into the seat "accidentally" turning just in time to hit her with my bag. Oops.
As I pretend to read the paper, I ponder my increasing annoyance with this woman. What to do? I mean, I could dramatically turn the pages of the Express and hit her, but that won't do any good because then she goes off thinking that I am the rude one. I could sigh or huff and puff, but again, I end up looking like the jackass. Maybe I should just tell her something. Not in a rude way...polite rather. I should politely let her know that she is not following proper metro-etiquitte. Yes, for metro riders everywhere, I need to take a stand and let her know that her aisle-seat-hogging is unacceptable during rush hour.
At that moment, I notice her head jerk to the side. I look over to find karma. He is in the form of a kid in the aisle facing the other direction with an extremely large backpack that is positioned mere inches from her face. For the next four stops, every time this kid moved, outer-seat-hog had to duck and dodge his books until she finally got nailed in the face and asked him to move. For the next four stops, I giggled. It took everything in me not to point out that she was the one who so boldly laid claim to the aisle seat. I doubt she learned anything from getting hit by karma but it sure did make me feel good.
Labels: Pissy, Why I love DC
Monday, May 28, 2007
The perfect day for our paths to cross
When I was a child, I joined my grandparents on my first ever trip to Washington D.C. Somewhere near the Vietnam War Memorial, I purchased one of those silver bracelets of a Marine Missing in Action. As a kid, I didn't think of the commercialism or touristy nature of those bracelets. I merely thought of the guy whose name was on it. I wore that bracelet for a while when I was younger and often wondered how my Marine went missing and if he had ever been found. This was in the pre-internet age, so I would not have even known what steps to take to figure that out. Instead, I just kept him in my thoughts and prayers until the day that I put that bracelet in a box somewhere and forgot about it and about him.Two days ago, when the cable man was here, he needed a phone to test out our new phone line and I recalled having an old cordless in a box in my closet. As I dug through the box, I came upon my MIA bracelet. I took it out and put it on my desk to think about later. After a long day of errands and studying, as the sun was setting through my window it reflected off the bracelet and caught my eye. After almost twenty years, I put the bracelet back on. I reflected on my Marine; only this time, I took it a step further. I googled his name and found his story.
My Marine's plane went down in 1969 on my father's birthday (I recall choosing this particular bracelet solely for the date.) He was never heard from again, however, he was not lost forever. In 1999, they found parts of his plane and some remains of (presumably) him and his co-pilot in Laos. After careful excavation, they brought my Marine home. They laid him to rest right down the street from me in Arlington Cemetery.
As I looked down at the bracelet on my arm, I thought of the fact that I have lived here for almost six years and have not visited the cemetery. I thought of the fact that my Marine was from Washington state so his family is likely still far away. I thought that I should really find some time in my oh-so-busy life to go pay my respects to my Marine. As I pulled out my study schedule, I noticed I would have no class on Monday. It took a moment to dawn on me that Monday would be Memorial Day. I sat breathless for a moment. Memorial Day.
There could be no more fitting a day to meet my Marine.
Today I put my books aside, put my bracelet back on, and went to meet LTC Luther A. Lono. After picking up some flowers and a good friend, we headed to Arlington Cemetery. When I arrived at his gravesite, I felt as if I knew him personally. As I placed the bouquet of red, white and blue flowers at his headstone, I thanked him for serving this great country, for dying for my freedom, and for helping at least one American to truly understand what Memorial Day is about.
Labels: God appointment, Makes you think, Why I love DC