Washington D.C.

I took off to Washington, D.C. pretty soon after school got out with some of my old youth back in Austin. The trip was incredible. A little stressful, but really incredible.

We met at the airport in Austin at 5 AM, and for people like me who don't really wake up until 10 or so, that's asking a lot. And yet, I managed to clear security despite almost falling asleep against the x-ray machine. Apparently, that happens a lot at 5 AM. Anyway, we made it to D.C. and David, Jill and I were dispatched immediately to go get the rental vans. And the fun started. After finding the first van in the long-term parking lot at the airport, the other two were a quick drive away. We gained entry easily, because the KEYS WERE IN THE TAILPIPE (this was the method insisted upon by the renter). I felt like I was in a Sopranos episode that was going to end badly. After we checked the vans for drugs and dead people, we went back to pick up the youth.

It was immediately apparent that these vans were not good things. Not at all. The lack of A/C, the constant shaking, the still plausible idea that these vans had been used for illegal activity weighed on our minds heavily. Which is how we ended up with FIVE mini-vans. Imagine a parade: ticker-tape, brightly colored costumes, the band playing something patriotic, and five vans weaving through the street, filled with eager youth and Twizzler-munching adults. Except it's all at 50 miles per hour, with taxi cabs cutting in, lights turning YELLOW! and then RED!, iPhone directions that just don't cut it, at least 12 illegal U-turns per hour, and cops all over the place just waiting for a reason to turn on their lights. We named our van the M.O.D. (Mini-van Of Dreams) and there were strict rules about the radio volume, a dance party (go Club Fuel!), and a constant supply of Twizzlers.
















We spent the week doing several things, including working at kitchens, sorting clothing donations, preparing and delivering meals to the sick, and moving chairs. Hundreds of chairs.

You really have no idea of the amount of chairs.

We spent every afternoon with a Vacation Bible School-type camp being held in the church at which we were staying. There were probably around fifty kids between the ages of 5 and 16. Someone thought it would be a good idea to start giving piggy back rides, and before we knew it, EVERY KID was asking to be carried. Not just the ones that weighed twenty pounds. And bear in mind how many chairs we had already carried. Somehow, with several animal noises and a few snacks, we made it through every afternoon. We danced, sang, learned "Yo, peace out, yo yo peace out!," played Simon Says and football, and one of us even got thrown up on (way to go Elizabeth).

Every evening we went to a different monument or memorial. I had been to D.C. back when I was about seven, and all I remember is carrying around a red pillow because it wouldn't fit into my suitcase, and I had to have that red pillow. This time around, I toted around my camera instead of the red pillow, which I think worked out a little bit better. All of the memorials were pretty incredible, but my personal favorite was probably the FDR Memorial (I didn't even know there was one). We sang and goofed off and celebrated birthdays and cried and ate tongue tacos and played Spades and danced and made cat noises. Like I said, it was incredible. :-)