My Last 24 Hours in DC

Well, DC…  It’s been real.  You made it hard to leave, but it was time to go. My last day in the “DMV” were amazing.

The Middlenameless Wonder who, incidentally, gave me a card that made me cry, took me out on the town Saturday night and then sprung this badboy on me…

Bono and the boys say goodbye from "the claw"

Yup! U2 and Muse at FedEx Field. It was really nice of her to get Bono and the boys to play a going away concert for me. And then, Bono pulled in a favor and got MUSE to open for them!  Me and my 80,000+ friends were thrilled the spaceship was available for the show. The seats were amazing. The company was even better. And the show… well, it was out of this world.

The next morning, I woke up early for PT before hitting the road for my final send off. This guy is pretty busy, so it was great he could squeeze me in:

The President took time out of his busy life to say goodbye to me!

On Monday, I was invited to come see President Obama speak at NIH. After seeing him speak at the University of Maryland, I assumed it would be a large crowd and I would be in the back with the riff raff, which clearly… I was not. From the second row, I listening to him speak about how the National Institutes of Health have shaped modern medicine in many ways, and how they are just getting started. In the middle of his speech, I noticed something. There was a little line in his hair… like a part, but not a part. And then I looked at his cheek. And his ear. I looked at the shadow of his freshly shaven beard. I had to focus on the things that proved it was all real. That he wasn’t on TV. He wasn’t talking to a camera in the Oval Office. He was talking to me and a few hundred people in a small room in Bethesda. As he left the stage, I knew he would walk the line. And he did. I leaned in and hoped… really hoped… that he’d shake my hand. But he walked by me… but just barely. He lingered, talking to the man in front of me who had worked on his campaign, and then turned his gaze back. Back to me. And looked me in the eye. And shook my hand. His hands are soft but strong, but I had heard that before. Never in my life did I think I’d ever be able to corroborate the story. I could only think of one thing to say to him as he shook my hand: “Thank you so much.”

He wasn’t there for me, and neither was Bono, but don’t tell me that. It was the perfect way to say goodbye, although it made leaving that much harder. I have some amazing friends that I’m leaving behind, but I’m only a few hours away and Philly is a rad town.

For all of you that found me through DC Blogs, I hope you’ll stick around. I’m still a DC girl at heart, and will bring my Capitol perspective to the City of Brotherly Love. What an amazing and loving community… but I’m not going anywhere. So stick around!

So many new wonderful antics to come…

---