Last Day in DC

Dear Washington D.C.,

I wanted to thank you very much for all of the opportunities that you have given me and made me learn about myself since I have lived within your borders. I came to D.C. as a naive Mid-Westerner and was amazed at the sharpness of people's witt and their resumes and experiences. Now, I have become one of those D.C. natives that curses under their breath when tourists block the escalator, the one that loves living in the D.C. and doesn't cross the moat (Potomac) very often, the one that likes having a packed social calendar almost as much as I like my brief moments of solitude.

I want to thank you for teaching me how to live, communicate, and thrive with people of more varying backgrounds and places than Minnesota has lakes. I want to thank you for pushing me to find out for myself what direction I want to take my life and giving me the opportunities to achieve it.

I especially want to thank you for letting me befriend such a wide variety of people, whether it be at work, on the hill, in the neighborhood, or out about the town.

Today is the last day that I will be a resident of Washington D.C. Its a strange feeling to be leaving the place I have made so many great friends that have taught me things that I never thought were possible.

It is a strange feeling being on the eve of a great adventure like the Peace Corps. The fact that I find absolutely humbling is the number of people that have come to the going away get togethers and all of the beautiful things that they have said.

I only hope that I can make all of them proud of me in what I will do. More importantly, I want to tell them all of the amazing things that I will be seeing.

So in the spirit of saying good-bye I thought I would write down a thank you note to Washington D.C. for all it has given me.

Sincerely,
Chris Schirm