How Do I Love Thee?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But I haven't been able to find a picture that adequately captures how I feel about this magical place.

How I get off the airplane and stand on the platform waiting for the Metro to take me downtown and am struck by an overwhelming urge to wrap my arms around the city and give it a great big hug, like reunited lovers reveling in their good fortune of once again being in the same zip code who can't bear the thought of ever letting go.

How I laugh at signs for the Verizon Center, because, duh, it's the MCI Center, and always will be to me. (Hey, the first pro basketball team I saw in DC went by the name of The Bullets and played at an arena most easily accessed by way of a rather frightening Cab Ride from Hell, so I think referring to it as the MCI Center is the least of my sins.)

How content I am walking out of the house at 5:15 am, headed to the gym, the comfortably humid air of DC in May wrapped around me with the same cozy feeling of flannel sheets in a Wisconsin winter.

How I gush like a proud parent over her kid's first tooth when I see an area that's been (re)developed and a new restaurant opened since the last time I was in town.

How perfection may be six in the morning, the sun up and the air just cool enough that I have to run to stay warm, iPod-less, with only the view of the Capitol, the Washington Monument and whatever event is being set up on the Mall this week to entertain me on my run.

How it gets easier each time to leave, not because I love the city less, but because I am filled with the knowledge that I will be back sooner than I think and confident that one of these days there won’t be a return flight.

You had me at hello.