Oxy Reunion--in DC?

This past weekend our very good friend Meghan came to visit us in DC--oops, I mean, Bethesda. She was a very good sport about all of the boxes and general clutter as Chris and I tried to unpack and bring about some order. On Saturday, we hit all the monuments in DC and the newly renovated U.S. History Museum. The WWII memorial--which I love--was particularly moving that day. For whatever reason, the place was crawling with very elderly WWII veterans, most of whom were in wheelchairs (although I saw the occassional stubborn vet pushing his own empty chair), each with his narrow, pointy veteran's hat (I'm sure there's a real word for it) that delineated his division or battalion or whatever. (Sorry, folks, I'm not the military historian of the family.) Raise your hand if you think it took WAY too long to build this memorial and are not the least bit shocked that it was privately funded in order to get the thing done . . . Anyhoo, I always love doing the DC monument tour when friends come to town because it gives us a chance to talk (and talk and talk and talk) one-on-one for a long time in a very leisurely way. Of course, the problem is that it makes you long for the days when all your closest friends were just a few miles away. Later that night, we had Greg--another Oxy alum who was also a member of our dysfunctional college clique and who just moved back to the U.S. after spending the past 5 or so years abroad--and his very lovely wife, Carole, over for dinner for a bit of an Oxy reunion. The evening passed like any other in college, except the drinks were better (or so I hear--I was relegated to drinking sparkling lemonade), the food was better (i.e., the main fare was not the result of a Taco Bell run--not that there's anything wrong with Taco Bell), and the evening ended around 1:00 a.m. rather than 5:00 a.m. (because we're now old). But everything else remained, culminating in the sheer joy and contentment that comes from hanging out with the friends with whom you have a long, sordid history. On Sunday, we hit some Virginia wineries, inhaled Chinese food, and then it was time to take Meghan to the airport. By the time I dropped her off, the DC metro area was on her short list of possible to places to move to in the next couple of years. It's all part of my master plan . . . . .