Late March and early April are when I miss living in Washington, D.C., the most … except, perhaps, during election years, when DC comes alive with the sparkle of political campaigning.
The reason March & April are so wonderful in DC is because, without fail, from the cold and (especially this year) wet winter of the mid-Atlantic springs forth the blooming of the cherry blossoms, a sight so beautiful people flock to the Tidal Basin from places near and far to behold it themselves.
The Washington Post has a great 2005 Cherry Blossom Guide Web site that includes a pretty hokey 360-degree panoramic of the Tidal Basin. (I just have to ask — what WERE those people thinking when they were taking the pictures/video??)
The blossoms are peaking late this year — anticipated between April 7-9 (ish).
My mom never got to see the blossoms peak, due to the nature of her Jan-April 15 work load, but I did my best to bring her home ample cherry blossom paraphernalia, including a poster that’s still hanging in her office at work.
For me, visiting the blossoms at the Tidal Basin was an annual ritual I began as a college freshman at GW. At the time, I had just returned from a week at home with Jen for spring break, wherein we’d visited the University of Missouri-Columbia with the hopes/intentions of transferring there together for our sophomore year. I had already been accepted to the university itself as a transfer student, and was hoping to apply to their nationally recognized journalism program.
Ultimately, though, while at the Tidal Basin a couple of weeks later, seeing the gorgeous cherry blossoms for the first time in my life, I realized that I would never be content if my life took me to central Missouri for the rest of my college days. Even though their journalism program was clearly the superior, the opportunities at my disposal in DC far made up the difference. My decisive realization was that it was probable, if not likely, that as a Mizzou student, I would one day be watching C-SPAN or CNN and see a program that had been taped at GW. I just figured it was better to BE at the event than it was to be WATCHING the event on TV.
{shrug}
I’ve never regretted my decision; my 3-1/2 years in DC were among my best, and I am confident I wouldn’t be half the person I am today had I not stayed at GW.
So when the cherry blossoms bloom every year, I feel tremendous nostalgia for DC. For better or worse, a part of me will always be ready to load up my car and move back.
In the meantime, I’ll just channel my nostalgia towards my mid-July week back in the DC-Maryland area! 🙂