Dear DC

This is the last week. It has snuck up on me amongst the madness of work and packing and trying to pack it all in.  My time in this city has taught me so much.  I have made great friends, found myself lonelier than ever at other times, and leave a better person.   Now I must leap. 

In this never ending winter, I remember the seasons of I have spent here.  Fond memories include braving the cold to run to the inauguration and avoid riding the metro on one of its busiest days. Another is sitting in the sunshine one weekday just staring at the cherry blossoms last year.  I was able to log miles and miles of running down Wisconsin Avenue taking in the view of those heading to and from work, my fellow running community, and the buildings and special places that make this city unique.  I enjoyed weekdays off, and while many others were at work I would explore the nations capital. I bought too many books, but filled up my time to read only a few.  I ate "all the breakfasts" and too many cups of coffee with close friends.  I learned what it was like to juggle 3 jobs while trying to find one that was a "better fit."  I felt and experienced the challenge of that job search, and ended up learning so much about managing and working for a company that valued me.  The unpredictable place I ended up instilled a new passion for entrepreneurship through my ever present passion for community.  That's evidence of breakthroughs from the leap I took coming here.

Before coming to DC I wouldn't have called myself a runner, or a listener, or a manager.  Before coming here I thought finding community was easy, and didn't take much work.  It takes a LOT.  Perhaps it takes TIME.  Did I give this place enough time?  Will I return?  These are the questions that challenged me when I thought about leaving.  By the beginning of the year, I knew it would be one that was about risk and change. It was time to get back to Italy. How would I do that?! And when?

There is a ticket to Italy in my inbox with MY name on it.  I made the choice and I'm taking that risk now.  I am leaving a comfortable place that I have "settled" for these last two years.  I can't settle now because it is a season for risk taking and MOVEMENT.  It is time to be a bit more vulnerable.  I am in a season where I find my heart in a new relationship, vulnerable and eager.  I'm anxious to spend time with those that know me best, but can't wait to spend time alone in Tuscany once again.

What breakthroughs will these risks lead me to?  I can't wait to find out.

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to UPROOT, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to DANCE, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to LOVE and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for PEACE.  What do workers gain from their toil?  I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.  He has made everything beautiful IN ITS TIME.  He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.  That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil- this is the gift of God.  I know that everything God does will ensure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.  God does it so that people will fear him." -Ecclesiastes 3:1-14