52 dates // 29

52 dates // a thousand threads
The date // A pilgrimage to the original Jimmie Cone
The bonus // An amazing night with friends, old and new

We all fall into our little routines… our happy places, or sometimes just our comfortable places.

Ice cream is most certainly one of ours, especially in the summertime (but let’s face it, always too). Want to do something special but don’t have plans? Ice cream is the answer – or at least an answer we consider – almost every time.

And I’m pretty okay with that. But there are other routines I’m less fond of.

DC has a routine. A go to work, come home, check email before bed and go back to work kind of routine. Maybe you’ll hit a bar somewhere in the mix, socialize with folks who work on the Hill or at a nonprofit like you… talk about work, because who knows who you might meet. Every drink is an opportunity.

… the problem is that I’ve never been one for opportunism.

When I moved to DC to go to George Washington, everyone I met was gunning for the same internships, then the same jobs, and the ones who weren’t seemed even more lost than I was. Trying to find their place in a world that wasn’t catering to them, that might even have felt like it was working against them. A world where the first question you’re asked when you meet someone new is “what do you do” and the second is “where did you go to school?”

But it’s not just the monotony or the intimidation that forces folks back into themselves. In most cases it’s also the fear, or even the true belief, that they are legitimately alone.

52 dates // a thousand threads
When I took Mark home to my family for the first time, they asked how the heck I’d found him. And preconceived notions about stodgy DC-ites aside, they were right. He wasn’t your average bear. The guy was a jeep driving, backpacking, biking and kayaking Oregonian through and through (just… not).

But then, I didn’t meet him in DC, and we don’t live in DC now. At the time, I felt like I had to leave the city to find someone more like myself… and even after we’d met, I wasn’t sure we could ever really be happy living in the area.

I’ve learned so much over these past few years. So much about myself, about us, and about where we live… and I’ve learned that so much more is possible than I ever would have thought.

This weekend, in addition to our trip to the original Jimmie Cone (a pilgrimage for me given that I’ve somehow never been!) we spent our Saturday night with the most kind, incredible, inspiring group of folks we ever could have hoped to bring together.

Field + Foundry (much like this blog) was formed out of creative unrest. A need in me to build the kind of community I felt I’d have if I still lived in Oregon. To learn and grow and share with the people who I didn’t know, just a few years ago, were all around me. The folks who, once upon a time, I thought somehow only lived in LA and New York, Portland and Austin, and seemingly everywhere but here.

… the folks who’ve shown me over the past few years that I am anything but alone.

I am so thankful for the creative community that exists and is growing every single day in the greater DC area. And I feel honored to have the chance to play a small role in that community’s growth.

Coming soon, we have so many details to share. Of our beautiful location, our delicious meal, Mark’s sourdough starter workshop, and Amanda’s inspiring speech… but for now, I just wanted to say thank you to all who attended, to all who made it possible, and to all of you who have been such a big part of our journey to this place.

It was a night to remember forever. And I hope the beginning of something big – life changing, even – for anyone there who, like me, took some time to realize just how silly it was to believe that their people would, or could, live anywhere else.

3 Comments

  1. WordPress › Error

    There has been a critical error on your website.

    Learn more about debugging in WordPress.