Several weeks ago, Danny and I headed for Gaithersburg, MD for almost a week. He was there for "Disaster Recovery" excercises with work and I was there to have fun, see old friends, eat and hopefully not recover from any disasters.
It was a jammed packed week for me downtown while Danny worked some days 'til 8:45 pm. I got to see a ton of people I love and worked with. It was like a crash course in spending time with people from all walks of my "previous VA life."
We got to see Andy + Diane for dinner. I had lunch with 2 former bosses, and got to visit with a 3rd former boss. Met up with former co-workers at the Freer/Sackler. Had lunch with my realtor/friend Rosanne and her hubby John (who I worked with at FSG). Got to see lots of art at my leisure at the National Gallery (there was a
Rothko exhibit) and another amazing exhibit at the
Hirshhorn. Got to hit my favorite restaurants: Jaleo and Burma. Enjoyed lunch in the staff restaurant at NGA and also enjoyed yummy gelato (and miss the former Smithsonian discount that made it affordable!). Got to see my old carpooler buddy Nick. Drove out to Clifton and surprised another dear friend Cheryl (thank God she was home!).
That was just Tuesday - Friday.
Saturday Danny and I went to Arlington to a Vietnamese restaurant that a good friend of my mom owns. She was there and it was hard for her to hold back tears when she saw me. Her Engrish was rough, but I understood her emotions and she kept saying how much I looked like Yen.
After that we headed to the
National Harbor (AWESOME!!) to meet up with Tammy and Marshall at the
Gaylord. They were offering local residents a discount on rooms, so Tammy got us some rooms. It was also Marshall's bday weekend so we were ready to have fun. When we checked in, Tammy mentioned Marsh's bday and the front desk dude hooked us up and upgraded all of us to suites for free!! Tammy and I figured we probably got $500 rooms at the price of $125! NICE!
We wined and dined at
Graces Mandarin, then headed to
Bobby McKeys a dueling piano bar (Marshall actually did all the graphic design work for the owner). After that we went to the Gaylord's guest only night club where we got to see fireworks from the balcony at the top of the building. The club was cool but pretty empty as it was still early but we had goofy fun anyways. Both couples decided to retire early to "take advantage of the beautiful rooms" and met in the morning for breakfast.
During our stay at the Gaylord, there was an Asian wedding that Tammy and I so desperately wanted to crash, because we thought for sure we could fit right in. There was also, and I lie not, a "Pole Dancing Convention." That explained why it seemed we saw so many hooker like chicks. Again, Tammy wanted to crash this..... kidding. But we did meet a chick in the elevator that flew all the way from London to attend this event. It was her first time in DC and the US and she was not going to have time to see the sites, just learn how to expose her own sites..... Oh, that was wrong of me.
After breakfast, Danny and I headed to Immanuel for church and then went to lunch with our favorite mentor couple Joel and Cindy. We got home Sunday night by 8:15 in time to watch the season finale of LOST (which was a immense disappointment).
All the pics I took were of the time with Tammy and Marshall. I could kick myself for not documenting all my other friends. Danny and I had a blast --- and were SO blessed by our time with the people we love. It was such a truly, deeply meaningful time for me to see so many faces from my past and feel the love of friends you haven't seen in several years.
God provided me with rich conversations with old co-workers and it was great to be happy about life, marriages, children..... Thanks to all who treated me to food and fun :)
Last week was the last "real" week of school for the kids. This week is exam week (1/2 days) and if you're a senior with an A/B in the class and less than 3 absences, you are exempt from your exam. Needless to say, that means both the kids don't have a full week this week of school either.
I confess, I am struggling with all this graduation stuff --- its all very exciting and fun to experience so many proud moments, but my heart is sad as I think of the very glaring absence of my parents getting to be here, especially my mom. She had been talking about Lauren's graduation for years and I am so sad she will not be with us on that day.
