If You Get Caught Between the Moon and New York City

I just returned from a whirwind trip up to NYC, my first trip back in almost a year. It was exhausting, but great, great fun. Good shopping, good food, and most importantly, lots of good friends.

While I was visiting, it was the first time I ever wondered whether I made a mistake leaving New York. On the whole, I've been pretty content since I moved to DC. But, I don't think I've ever been as happy in DC -- or had so many drinks -- as I was hanging out in NYC this weekend.

I have been mulling over it a lot in the past 24 hours, and I've reached the conclusion that it's probably not New York that I miss, as much as I miss all my friends. I was able to see a bunch of people that I haven't seen in over a year. And, there were still a number of really good friends that I wanted to see but couldn't figure out how to fit it all in. (Next time.) If everyone from NYC lived in DC, I suspect I'd feel differently.

Still, as I was driving back in to DC this evening, and the sun was setting, I noticed that the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom. I thought how soon I'd be able to lounge outside on my patio, which is something NY apartments didn't offer, unless you had a trust fund.

Of course, just as I was smiling at the thoughts of the cherry blossoms blooming and my tree sprouting new leaves, I stumbled across a donut that someone had left on my front steps. (Interestingly, they ate the outside layer of bread and left the entire inside -- which doesn't seem very easy to do.) I suppose I could have let the trash on my front step sour my fragile enthusiasm for DC, but I decided pastrys on your front door are a good omen, even if half-eaten.

Now I'm just left trying to figure out the mystery of how half-eaten donuts fit in with all the other trash that I've found on my street, such as the tequila bottles, cut-off shorts, and electrical cord. It reminds me of this bit from Sesame Street when I was a kid, where Sherlock Hemlock found a bunch of trash and tried to figure out what kind of twiddlebug party had gone down. I'm entertaining any unifying theories.