Saturday, Sept. 10th, 2011: Well, it just hit me today that my roommate is gone. The room we shared is very vacant and the walls are bare. It was a little alarming (and quiet) at first but trying to make the best of it, I redecorated. It's still primarily a guest room, but it's cozier now; which has made my room less cluttered and cleaner. On Saturday, I also visited the Air and Space Museum Smithsonian exhibit with my roommate, Colleen. We saw lots of amazing spacey things but the thing I liked the most was walking to the Smithsonian from my house. During my 3 mile walk, I got to see so much of the city and the people of DC. Someone even asked me for directions...I am grateful for this feeling I have right now: this feeling of belonging and excitement to live in DC. I love living here and I love this city.
Sunday, Sept. 11th, 2011: Some may find it hard to find something to be grateful for on such a monumentous day in our U.S. history. Ten years ago, four planes set out to do harm and hate propelled the events of that day. I was reading my roommate's blog and she entitled it "when love finally wins" and it was all about how hate has won in so many ways in the past ten years but how she finds love winning the small battles at her work. It was beautifully written (way to be, Britt) and carried a beautiful point with it: love trumping hate. Today, I went to St. Augustine's Catholic Mass (an entirely black congregation) and fell in love. I found my church. I could feel the love radiating from each parishioner and I felt the love the rest of the day. Today, of all days, I am grateful for love beating hate...both in the tall and the small battles.
Monday, Sept. 12th, 2011: Today I am grateful for my staff. We had a three hour long staff meeting where we laughed 3/4 of the time. Although we are going to be switching lead agencies on Oct. 1st and I will be losing most of those staff people, I am grateful for the time I have with them right now, in this moment. At one point, my supervisor (who is leaving Oct. 1st) said, "man, I'm going to miss this." and we all got a little quiet. I think recognizing how great the people you have around you is something we simply don't do enough of and today, I am grateful for them.
And also I am grateful for the staff I had last year...one of the people I worked with last year (a 65-year-old, stingy, grumpy man, who hated children) gave me a hug (which NEVER happens) on my last day and looked at me with a tear in his eye (also, NEVER happens) and said, "Katie, you have the gift of getting along with anyone. If someone doesn't like you, it's on account of them...definitely not you. Don't ever forget that." His words and his profound honesty and love have resonated and carried with me...I continue to think of those words because it makes me want to live up to them...he set the standard for me to live up to and I am eternally grateful for that.
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