(Now you know I'm seriously happy when I use an excess of exclamation points!!!)
I woke up this morning to the sound of the whir of the fan. Last night I had flicked it on for the first time in I can't remember how long and had fallen in to a very dreamless sleep almost immediately. This morning I remember waking up without really opening my eyes. I did what I usually did which was contemplate how to get out of going to work but the unfamiliar sound disturbed my musing and caused me to crack an eye. Oh, the fan.
This one little fact made me happy, believe it or not. The fact that the fan was turned on.
I have been keeping an eye on the weather predictions in hope that things would finally warm up. Today it was supposed to and I'm happy to report that the sun had finally made an appearance...with a bit of a vengeance too because we hit 80's by mid-afternoon
Getting into my Stella (yes, that's the name of my beautiful Audi, I've named her, don't judge me) I immediately opened up all the windows as well as sunroof. I was purely thrilled. Even the backed-up-to-hell traffic didn't dim my slight elation although by the time I drove into the building I did do a bit of cringing but that's to be expected, right? It's work after all.
Now the problem with beautiful weather, for me at least because typically speaking I don't like to talk for others, is that I want to be out in it which made sitting still and focusing all that much more tougher while in the building. When lunch time arrived my two colleagues and I quickly left to join the crowded streets of DC.
Humanity was literally everywhere. Gone were the coats, gloves and hats that had ruled our lives for far too many wintry months. Out for all to see were pale legs, shoulders and faces turned up to the sun. My friends and I sat outside lounging until we were forced back indoors but bootay was dragged, fo' sho'. The only plus point was the knowledge that today I had to leave early since I have music classes every Tuesday and must get on the road by 5:30pm in order to make it to class by 7pm. Yup, it takes me 1.5 hours to travel 20 miles during rush-hour. By the time the appointed moment came ticking by, I was out of their so fast I think I left skid marks behind.
I've mentioned how this time of the year is lovely as my city literally blooms (see the prior blog about Spring and where it thou be) but the biggest problem that comes with those lovely blossoms? Tourists. And they are honestly everywhere. Crowding all available spaces, walking hither and yon, asking for directions, cramming the metro, blocking the doors of the train anxiously, halting abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk to take a picture of this or that and worse of all, deciding to do most of their travels right around the time when all work slugs were leaving their offices. Normally this is cause for many scowls and cursing (me, not them) but not today...no indeedy not today.
I smiled the whole way out of the crawling traffic, ignoring the out-of-towners who kept cutting in front of me, swerving the bike nuts who thread in and out of the cars, and not trying to flick off the moron who decided that he wanted to be in my lane, even when he was two lanes on the other side of the 3 lane road. The smile stayed in place as I waited for the endless amounts of hoofing tourists who were headed for the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin to see the Cherry Blossoms. It wavered only for a moment when I drove by a pretty horrible car crash which left a car literally in ashes and it's driver sitting on the curb looking stunned. I thanked God for at least sparing the man his life.
As I drove on past the Washington Monument, I eyed it, noting that the scaffolding for the repairs that would be done to it from the damage inflicted during last years earthquake was now half way up. I tried to take a quick picture of it...check it out:
Hmmm...actually I think it's more then half, or possibly the bizarre angle I was tilting the phone but I couldn't get a better because right beside me was a cop who just gave me the stink-eye, shook his head and waggled his finger. I gave him a sheepish grin, quickly putting the phone down.
By the time I got to the Tidal Basin area the place was crawling, simply crawling with happy touristy folks in their touristy outfits. I couldn't begrudge them their joy. Hell I would have been out there with them to take a few pictures, gawk at the stubby pinkish trees and enjoy the warmth and sun (!) but that was not to be, off to music class I was.
Class was good, I felt satisfied (mainly because for a change I had practiced) and as I strolled back into the warm night, my first instinct was to find myself a nice little cafe, sit and milk the rest of the evening for everything it was worth. I think some part of me was/is still leery, thinking the warmth would vanish and the cold would reappear just to spite us. But eyeing the clock I realized that I had 30 minutes to get my butt home so I could catch Dancing With the Stars - Elimination Night (again, don't judge me, this is one of my favorite shows and I'm not ashamed to admit it).
So now it's 1:30 am and I haven't gone to sleep yet (obviously since I'm still writing) and I feel a bit sweaty but happy. Tomorrow I get to meet up with one of my best friends who is back in-town for a few days for a conference and I have every plan to drag him to a restaurant with outside seating. I probably won't care how hot it is or if he protests. Going into this season, I have promised myself that for as long as the sun is here, I will take full advantage of it, whenever and wherever I can.
I'll tell you what folks, it's clearly time to bust out the shades, the sunblock, the flip-flops and dust off the grill. There are lemons to be squeezed, sprinklers to be turned on and ice creams to be licked. And I'm all ready to go.
Helloooooooooooooooooooooooooo again Mr. Sun!
(Um...just a small P.S...Do not be surprised if in a few weeks I'm not complaining about how hot it is outside and blah blah blah. Let me have my moment okay?)
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