Wow! A second blog from Kimberly in less than a week? This is amazing! I’m actually really proud of myself guys. I’m working on my experience to blog ratio 🙂 Also avoiding job searching. UGH. Life.
It is technically day 3 of my weekend, and what a crazy 4th of July weekend it has been. I got the okay from my boss man to take Thursday off to venture to Washington DC with Marma for about 24 hours. I loved feeling like a mom for a few hours; preparing our things for the 4 hour trip. I packed us lunch, filled up my car with gas, went to the grocery store to purchase the necessary items we needed for our red, white, and blue breakfast, and went to pick up Martha from work. (I am going to be such a great mom!) I’ve never been to DC, and this was my last chance to go before I pick up my life and move it, once again, to a new city to call home and conquer.
Many life chats were had and concerts to the steering wheel, dash, and open road were sung. I love being behind the wheel with no set schedule and a road trip companion, one who keeps me awake, alive, laughing, and filled with her stories and feelings moments. I’m so grateful to this “little friend” of mine for taking this adventure with me!
We made it to DC in one piece and drove around for much too long to find a place to park cream filling. Thankfully we were able to temporarily park her in the apartment/castle parking lot of the place we were staying. Many shout outs to Sir Ethan for housing us and dealing with the craziness of our lives and 24 hour adventure. I hope I can repay you somehow! Ethan took us on a grand driving tour of DC in the rain where we learned quite a bit actually, but really all I can remember in this moment, somewhat, is how the streets work and that there is no J street in the district. What a fun little piece of knowledge 🙂 Post driving tour we walked down to DuPont Circle to meet up with some North Carolina boys for dinner and drinks; one of which I’d never met before, and the other I met just a few weeks ago. I look back and laugh at how funny life is. One day I’m sitting on a street corner with someone I just met in Milwaukee; fast forward two weeks later and we’re sitting on a curb somewhere in Washington DC. I love how my life has come to be a random hodgepodge of adventures and saying yes to what life has to offer.
So I celebrated the start to America’s birthday with one of my best friends and 2.5 new friends. Not too shabby 🙂 I’d say that’s pretty American. Sharing a meal, making new friends, and sporting my red, white, and blue, all in the nation’s capital. Definitely going on my list of life moments I’ll never forget.
Speaking of life moments I’ll never forget … my tires got SLASHED. I can’t decide if someone was hating on Wisconsin or just is rather horrible, or a combo of the two, but that happened. I woke up at 6:30 Friday morning to move my car off the street, walked past someone changing a tire, struggled with the parking break (which I thought at the time would be the worst of my problems), and turned the wheel to merge into traffic, to which I encountered an awful constant jerking motion. I pulled over and discovered two flat tires on my passenger side. Thankfully I wasn’t parked too far away from Ethan’s apartment/castle, so I slowly made my way back, and with Martha, Ethan, and Patsy and Bessie’s help spent the next 4 hours getting cream filling back into one piece. Thanks to the tow truck driver who thought Martha and I were from Sweden, we made it to a tire shop and got some new wheels and busted outta there, ready to get our lives and adventure back on track.
As Martha says, at least it was my tires that got slashed and not us. A lot worse things could have happened; and I am incredibly grateful and thankful for many things, including great parents, friends, and insurance, and that my and Martha’s safety was not ever questioned. I had quite the range of emotions, but am pretty proud of myself for how I handled the situation. I let myself cry for about 2 minutes but decided to press on; giving in to being upset wasn’t going to get us back to PIttsburgh to watch the fireworks with our pitt pals.
In the midst of this chaos, Ethan, Martha, and I decided nothing could ruin our plans for a red, white, and blue breakfast. So this happened 🙂
So after my car became a functioning car once again, Martha and I made our way downtown in our American outfits to watch the parade and wander. We sang, danced in the streets, cheered, and lived life for a few hours before hopping in the car. After 1 hour of getting lost and redirected in DC and 4 hours of highways, trees, and blue skies, we were reunited with our Burgh family, just in time to sit in the grass with the Pittsburgh skyline to our left, fireworks to our right, and our people all around us.
Nothing is more American than visiting DC, getting new tires, driving across a few states, and sharing moments with friends from other states. Martha and I never exhausted our hashtag of the weekend #thatssoamerican
I’ve decided in the last few weeks that people come in and out of our lives for a purpose. Whether they are a part of our lives for a day, two weeks, fifteen years, or forever, they teach us lessons, ones that we carry with us for years to come, along with the imprint they leave on our hearts. I’m living in this world where I think anything can happen, and I just want to scoop up everyone I know and keep them with me wherever I go. But I know I can’t; I know that all good things come to an end, and that more good things will follow. And I love and hate everything about it. It’s so American, and also worldly I suppose 🙂
Also I’m having a sentimental, “WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE” moment, and this song comes on. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgqhWqD1qe8
So here you are friends! Thanks for reading!
Living In The Great Unknown 