July - August 2022

Well the “dog days” have come to an official close. Dunkin has begun selling pumpkin spiced coffee, the leaves will soon fall to the ground, and my ten years in Washington, DC will come to an end.

Being dropped off as a freshman, I was so eager to start my adult-grown up life. What a joke.

Luckily, I wasn’t alone. Most of my classmates didn’t know how to be adults yet either. We became friends in this magical bubble of campus. The next four years flew by and we were told, “The party is over. You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.”

I thought the world was over. This bubble had been out home for the last four years and what was I going to do on the flip-side of graduation.

Well the flip-side brought me back to Washington, DC and I lucked out because a fair amount of friends also stayed in the area.

As we navigated credit card debt and paying school loans, we fostered a great sense of togetherness. And I thought this is the magic of the DC. We were all close in college and we were continuing to be close because we lived in the same area code.

A decade after moving into college, I can definitely say its not the city that makes and holds the friends. It’s the friends that make the city home. Friends who visit you make you see the city in a different light. Friends you work with introduce you to new neighborhoods. Friends who live down the street make surprise visits when you are feeling down.

Although my time in Washington, DC has come to a close, I know that my friendships are not tied to this location. Friendship travels many distances. No matter the distance, these friends are made to endure. My friendships are my home and that is where my heart will be on my next stop… Philadelphia.