Walk with me

Yesterday I took a walk for the first time in a long while - I take the same route every time. Thought this time around, I'd bring you all along. The narrative was better yesterday while I was walking, but I didn't have time to post until now. Still, you get the idea.

We'll start on 10th and make a left onto G. As we walk down G, be careful not to trip on the skateboarding ramp set up in front of the yellow house. And don't be frightened by the ginormous dog at the green house. As far as I can tell, he's harmless. You won't be able to stop yourself from smiling as that yuppie dad walks alongside his little girl while mom pushes a baby boy in the stroller. We'll be on G for awhile, passing under countless trees and past many tableaus. The three boys, all in dark, baggy jeans and crisp white tanks, freestylin' on the corner, using the mailbox as their beat box. The elderly couple, both in their Sunday best, making their way gingerly across the cobblestone. The Jeep full of Marines, cruising by, country music blasting from the radio.

Eventually, G will dead-end at Garfield Park and we'll cut through the middle, stopping to check out the tennis matches and the horseshoe game. We'll hear nannies gossiping in foreign tongues, pushing tow-headed children on swings next to J Crew catalog families catching up around the sandbox. And, if it weren't spring and the trees weren't in bloom, we'd catch a glimpse of the Capitol dome as we walked past the older man playing fetch with the dogs while his wife reads the Post on a bench nearby (both rocking popped collars with no sense of irony).

We'll leave the park and walk down 1st and soon rowhouses will give way to apartment buildings and suddenly we'll be passing the Canon House Office Building and the Capitol will loom large before us.

We'll hang a right onto Independence and walk south again, heading back towards home. As we pass the first bar with outdoor seating, you may notice a bounce in your step as your body responds to the 60s-era rock coming from the motorcycle parked out front before your brain even realizes it's there. And then we'll be on Pennsylvania, past more friends and families and couples enjoying the early evening sun and a meal outside. A right on 10th takes us past the old military hospital, currently in the midst of preservation and looking like something right out of a horror movie. We'll step to one side and kids race past on bikes, screaming and laughing about who-knows-what, and we'll peer through open doors and windows to see how everyone else lives. We'll admire original moldings and built-in bookcases and we'll say"wow, that's orange" when we see one particular living room and then we'll be home.

And we'll know. For all the chaos and crime and pollution and politics, this home is a pretty wonderful place.