To Miss or Not to Miss

Now that I know my days in Reston are numbered, I keep placing items on an imaginary set of scales. On one side are all the things I’ll miss here. On the other are the things I’ll be glad to put behind me. So I thought I’d turn the mental list into a real one and see which way the balance tips.

Things I’ll miss from Reston/DC:

• My NWF coworkers and the smattering of other friends I’ve gathered here.
• The view from my desk into the green, green woods.
• My morning bike commute (well, the idea of it, if not all the particular sidewalk bumps and traffic lights).
• The vast public transport system, especially the part where I sail through the metro gates with my smooth Smartrip card.
• All the culture to be had for free in the capital - museums, monuments, music, festivals.
  
• Spring’s glorious flowering-tree show (dogwoods, cherries, redbuds, etc.).
• The summer profusion of fireflies.
• The incredibly loud summer insect chorus (crickets, katydids, and most notably cicadas).
• Carolina chickadees.
• Fish crows (aka “the uh-uh bird”).
• Plot #10 at the Lake Anne community garden, my little triangle of dirt where I can harvest arugula and mustard greens and parsley right through the winter in this mild climate.

• The so-familiar loop around Lake Anne where I walk or run more days than not.
• Crossing paths with Maisie’s dog friends on our daily walks (we'll miss you, Kenobi, Xerc, Tiger, Bruno, Lucy, Annabelle, Fenway, Maddy, Cooper, and Randolph, plus Cooper and Randolph's mom, who always has treats at the ready so Maisie makes a beeline at first glimpse).
• The Saturday-morning farmer’s market and my Wednesday bag of CSA veggies from Potomac Vegetable Farms.
• Thursday night concerts at the Lake Anne plaza, with people and dogs strolling by, kids splashing in the fountain, all four restaurants buzzing with outdoor diners, the barefoot guy cruising by with his fishing pole and his cocker spaniel in tow, and the pontoon boat with the inflatable palm tree bobbing out in the water…
  

Things I won’t miss:

• The wave of oven-heat that hits me when I open the car door on a summer day.
• The equally shocking refrigerator-blast each time I enter a building.
• The fact that summer always comes too soon and lingers long after I’m ready for a crisp in the air.
• Wimpy winters and the panic that ensues whenever a snowflake is mentioned in the weather forecast.
• The many-times-daily wail of sirens from the nearby fire station.
• The longest traffic lights ever.
• The amount of time I spend just trying to get somewhere, whether it’s by car (waiting for said traffic lights and the crush of rush hour) or biding my time on the train platform or leaning against the side of a bus shelter watching the minutes tick by.
• A squirrel population gone wild – I regularly count fifteen or twenty within the first few minutes of a walk with Maisie (as she drags me halfway up a tree in pursuit).
• Overzealous enforcement of a very strict leash law.

Well, neither list is comprehensive, but I’m glad to see that good memories will outweigh the bad from the 3 years and 9 months of this east-coast interlude!