… this city will bring me to tears for the rest of my life!
As we get ready to pack up for our first post in Mexico, I’m getting sentimental about leaving Arlington. And so begins what will probably be a continuing theme in this blog as I emotionally reflect on what it means to me to be a mother.
We moved here from Massachusetts when Osito was 7.5 weeks old. While Tres was busy getting acclimated to daily life at the Foreign Service Institute, I was trying to keep our tiny person alive in a new environment. I instinctually leaned on the supports that already existed for me, my mommy friends living in the area. From there my circle grew to include their favorite spots like the local breastfeeding support group, mommy and me yoga classes, and the Women’s Lounge at every Nordstrom. I eventually ventured out on my own to places that work for Osito and me- story time at the Central Library as often as we can make it, wandering the Target on Arlington Boulevard, and as many museums and monuments as we could possibly fit in.
As excited as I am to begin life at our new post, I will relish every visit to DC where I can reminisce back on the roller coaster of being a new mother. I hope when we come back that I am flooded with memories of this very poignant time in my life. With any luck, a visit to Lubber Run Park will help me remember our quiet evenings when he would nap on me in the carrier, his velvet head close enough to kiss. I hope the burn in my legs as I climb the Lincoln Memorial will remind me what it was like to carry him up those steps. When we have lunch at the Foreign Service Institute I’ll pull out a picture of him sleeping in my husband’s arms in the cafeteria, and I will remind him when he is older that the last time he visited a particular Smithsonian museum he slept most of the time and needed a diaper change in the lobby. I’ll brag at Arlington Cemetery that he visited the site six times before he was five months old. Washington, DC has been a city of firsts for my baby – his first jog in the jogging stroller around the Tidal Basin, his first Halloween on the streets of Georgetown, his first babysitter when we went to see Bob Dylan at The Anthem, his first hike at Rock Creek Park.
Many thanks to this most amazing city where I found myself as a new mother. I am excited to continue with more firsts (first steps, first words, first birthday… first burrito!) at our first post in Mexico, but I will always be excited to come back and remember this incredibly special time.
Oh, the Places We'll Grow! 