Trip to DC

Last weekend I went to Washington DC for my sister’s graduation ceremony. She received her MBA from George Washington University and the ceremony was held as the base of the Washington Monument. We could see the White House directly behind where we were sitting. It was a very DC event. I travelled down to my sister’s place in Arlington Virginia with my parents and grandmother. The kids stayed home with Primero, Esperanza and my cousin on stand-by in case they needed help. Everything went smoothly and I had a really nice time with my sister. I was glad to finally see her new home that they bought last fall. I know they have been working slowly on getting it to their liking. Now that she is done with school (she has one more brief summer class), they are thinking about getting a dog. She likes to jog and her husband wants a big dog, so it seems like it will work out well, even with their postage stamp back yard (which, by DC metro standards is actually rather spacious). The ceremony was nice, although long. I found the commencement speakers to be amazing people. The first speaker was a prize-winning journalist partially responsible for revealing the Catholic priest cover-up scandal. I found him to be the least inspiring because he seemed so sure of himself. The next speaker was a 3 star General named Nadja West. She was the 12^th child in her family and she was adopted! She was a physician and the highest ranking woman to graduate from West Point. In addition to her rank, she is the first black woman to become Surgeon General for the US Army. Her accolades were probably a mile long, it was incredible! Yet, when she spoke, she seemed very humble and down-to-earth. I wished she had spoken longer, but I enjoyed what she shared. The main speaker was Senator Tammy Duckworth from Illinois. Her story was amazing, but hard to hear. After graduating from college, she joined the Army and flew Blackhawk helicopters in Iraq. During one of her missions their helicopter was shot and she was critically injured, immediately losing both her legs and part of her right arm. Because one of her comrades refused medical attention following their crash landing, she survived and returned to the US to become a US Senator. I thought her speech was a little too political for a college graduation, but it’s DC, everything is political! My parents weren’t as impressed and dismissed her for her political views. Politics aside, she was a good speaker and had an amazing story to tell and I appreciated what she shared.

 

After the ceremony we walked to the White House, so my grandmother could see it and get a few pictures. We then took the metro back to Arlington where we had a nice lunch and relaxed at my sister’s place a bit, viewing pictures of their recent trip to Copenhagen and Sweden, before driving the nearly 3 hours home. I thought we had a lovely time, there was no squabbling, no passive-aggressive snarkiness, just a nice time together. That is, until my mom made some comments about my sister on our drive home. I really had no idea what she was talking about because my sister could not have been more pleasant. There was a brief moment when she and her husband were hotly discussing the route we should walk to the White House, but they never got angry and none of us were really involved. I left wishing I had a more reliable vehicle so I could more regularly visit my sister and brother-in-law. They now have the space for me and my crew , with an extra bedroom and a cot, so we could totally spend a weekend with them, if I trusted my van to get us there and back. I’m very glad I decided to go, I was on the fence about it just due to the tetras logistics of childcare and now doggie care, but it all worked out and nothing felt better than coming home to a big warm hug from my Love Bug (Chica Marie was already in bed by the time I got home, so I got my hug from her the next morning). It’s funny how driving 3 hours takes it out of you!