White House Easter Egg Roll - Flashback to 2008

It's funny that interning at the White House is why I started blogging. We had several ethics/legal training meetings and they kept emphasizing that if we had a blog we needed to shut it down for the semester. I kept wondering, am I the only one out there who doesn't have a blog? What's the big deal? And suddenly I had some great stories that I wanted to write down and document, so when the internship was finished, I made a page at blogspot called This District. I was able to preserve memories like this: 

kayaking the Potomac by myself on a Sunday afternoon. Something Katherine McClellan gave me the courage to do...

I was recently looking for Easter Egg Roll pics from when I was a WH intern, and I found them in an email I had sent to my mom. A short email that said so much. Maybe in this tech age we'll use emails to document old memories the way our grandparents saved letters. Anyways, the email was brief, but hit heavy topics. I sounded homesick, but also just fine. I was worried about my dad - my family had just left DC, they visited for Easter weekend, my mom, dad, Gentry, and my grandmother, and my dad seemed extra stressed. One of his very best friends was battling cancer back home in Houston and it sucked, just totally sucked. 

I mention in the email that I'll probably come home at the end of the internship and finish my last class of college or two. I couldn't imagine not going to Camp Longhorn to work for the summer - Camp has a pull over people, it gets in your blood and you just can't let it go. 

The email to my mom reminded me that God opens doors and does all kinds of things if you're receptive. I definitely believe that he also moves if you're NOT listening for the Holy Spirit, but I wonder what I've missed by being too busy to pray or read scripture. What a wake up call for my life today. Five minutes even makes an impact on my thoughts, my heart, my actions, my openness to see things from a different, more God-focused perspective. I've tried for the past two weeks to spend five minutes daily with my bible and a Charles Spurgeon devotional I've had for years. 

Anyways, I'm rambling...this email reminded me that I came very close to not staying in DC for the remainder of the Bush administration. And gosh, how much I learned by staying. Professionally to be certain, but I probably learned even more on a personal level. 

God had me in DC for so many reasons. Too many to list here. I got to know Katherine McClellan, who has been one of my wisest, most thought-provoking friends. She also led me on some incredible adventures. My faith was stretched in numerous ways, as we grieved the life of Jay Chenoweth that September. 

It's funny, I didn't think looking for a few silly pictures would send my mind down memory lane of the year in DC and all that I learned and the deep friendships I made. (Looking at you, Hodges.) 

I was reminded by the quick email to my mom that I need to pray more, make time to give things to God and not overthink them myself. To "get out of my own way." I think I was much better at doing that in 2008. 

What were you doing in 2008? When you think back to several years ago, did you think you'd end up here? What have you learned in the years in between? Sometimes memory lane and reflecting can be quite productive before charging forward again. 

Here's to memories, to George W., to democracy, to friendships, to old hymns set to new beats, to the Lincoln at sunset, and to the district of columbia.