Embrace the Unexpected

October 3, 2018

At least once a month (sometimes more), I find myself at Love Field in Dallas waiting to fly to another city for another business trip. Inevitably my departure gate is next to a gate with a flight to Baltimore. I usually look at the Baltimore gate longingly, wishing I could be on that flight – because a flight to Baltimore means I could spend time with my best friend. Today, I was on that Baltimore flight because I had a meeting in DC.

Unfortunately, schedules were not going to allow me to spend time with my best friend on this trip. To quote another friend, Mary Ann, “Oh well.” So, I found myself with an unexpected free afternoon. It’s rare that happens, and even rarer for it to happen when I’m in DC. There’s something about our nation’s capital that has always captivated me. It may have something to do with the fact that my first visit to Washington, DC was as an adult. I think I was awed by seeing the monuments, Capitol, and White House for real when they had previously been just images on a page in a textbook. I’ve visited DC dozens of times since then, but I’ve remained awed by the city (although, it has certainly lost its luster for me in the past two years).

At various times, I’ve done most of the city tours and visited most of the museums, but it has been years since I’ve done anything relatively “touristy” in DC. This trip, I stayed in the Adams Morgan area. The Adams Morgan neighborhood is one of my favorite neighborhoods in DC. It is a multicultural neighborhood with a mix of eclectic rooftop bars, international restaurants, colorful row houses, local bookstores, and artisan cafes. It must have been fortuitous that I ended up here with a free afternoon and beautiful mid-80s temperatures. Like many of my friends, I needed some time to take a breath and decompress, even if I’m in the city causing my anxiety.

So today, I unplugged from the news. I walked around the Adams Morgan neighborhood. I had some sparkling wine at a Japanese rooftop bar. I ate Lebanese food. I visited with some furry neighbors, who posed for some photos. I snapped more photos of some incredible architecture, which is undeniably a national treasure.

Would I have preferred to spend the day with my BFF? Absolutely! But, today was a good day, nonetheless.

Cheers!