5 Years Ago...

This was me.

And I worked here.

Where has the time gone?

I still think fondly of the capitol tours I led, policy briefings I attended, my/Leilani's office triks, the bountiful food & beverages courtesy of the lobbyist's favors and the grand catered receptions. One week, I didn't have to go grocery shopping. How I loved my 8 mile runs from Arlington down the mall to the Capitol and back. The little girl I read with at the ghetto elementary riddled with bullet-holes- I wonder where she is now?. How blessed I was to room with Denise. How I relished my thrice weekly mecca to the Art gallery...just to relax. How I miss my favorite Thai restaurant in Georgetown. I loved walking up and meeting random DC celebs: Donald Rumsfeld, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton...just because I could. Remember the April Fool's Day joke, Dad?! I loved our crazy roadtrips, especially the one with Marlene to South Carolina- - just because I was cold and I had to go to the beach. The potholes on the interstate destroyed the rental car's rims but we rigged them up enough to get away with it. We couldn't believe it! I remember how much I cried when I had to move back and how desperately I wanted to be graduated.

I recall with less "warmth" the epic blizzard, anthrax scares, our Crazy Town apartment, Harris Teeter's expensive groceries and crappy produce, bomb threats on the subway, the weirdos who stalked me to/fro the subway stop, FEMA and the "heightened state of alert", Denise's 21st birthday, and the beginning of the war.

Up to that point, it was the best experience of my life. I still count my internship as a gift from the Lord. As someone with poor self-esteem, it was such a confidence booster to be selected. I applied on a Thursday, interviewed on a Friday, and three weeks later was subjected to a panel of staffers from congressional and senatorial offices firing off any number of policy questions. It was nerve-racking and intimidating, yet somehow I made the cut. I still can't believe it. The internship was also the first "real" job of my life. I learned how to be professional, act confident and poised even though I was a basketcase on the inside, adapt to a new place, play "the game", work quickly, and talk to famous people while acting totally unimpressed.