Okay, I just totally made that sound like someone important in Washington is genuinely interested in us, right? Hey, when we decided to blog I resolved that I would not bother posting about something if I could not turn it into a great story and make it worth ten minutes of your time to read. The boring version is that this dinner really had nothing at all to do with a lobbyist wanting our opinions on the price of diesel fuel or the quality of truck stops in west Texas. Lisa and her husband, Jeff (yes, the one who livens up the comment feed with awesome puns) contacted us long ago because they were just personally intrigued by what we are doing. And that is the other reason we blog: to be a source of help or maybe inspiration to other families who might be questioning the validity of the American Dream.
We have been planning this double date night event for over a month, or maybe longer (I cannot tell time anymore). Jeff suggested going up to a spot in Arlington where I could get a killer sunset shot of the Capitol skyline. The weather did not cooperate for photography but at that point I really did not care because Lisa and I were talking and that was more interesting. Having just experienced back-to-back days in the Senate and House galleries where we watched our lawmakers debate the Affordable Care Act, I was all of a sudden fascinated by a process that previously I found about as interesting as furniture polish. Or perhaps even less so. I asked Lisa how lobbying works. Although she does not do nearly as much of that any longer, she explained the gist. Lisa also holds a law degree so she knows doubly well what it is to be the butt of too many jokes, but the thing too many people do not understand is that a lobbyist has to be above all else honest. When they approach a committee to represent their industry or group the legislators always want to know facts, and if you don't have them or you cannot tell them who opposes your side and why, you have lost all credibility. And that can lay the foundation for bad laws to be passed.
That is pretty much where we quit talking political stuff and moved on to life. RV life, road school life, working from the road life. We covered the lack of community and the abundance of simplicity, the challenges of fitting everything in without it just becoming an over-sheduled life in a wilderness context. Jeff and Lisa know how to ask some really great questions. We answered them as best we know how and at some point those answers will make great blog posts of their own. We are constantly trying to process this year and all that we have encountered. I always find that when I have the opportunity to explain it all to someone who wants to know more about us I get a new chunk of clarity. We respond to the people who reach out to us, but I often think we are the ones who get the answers.
Jeff and Lisa took us to an excellent restaurant in Shirlington called Busboys and Poets and then to Georgetown for DC Cupcakes. There was a ridiculously long line so we hit up Pinkberry instead. Just as good in my opinion because if you load up your frozen yogurt dessert with enough fruit, as my friend Kelli says, it's practically a salad. We were treated to a chauffered tour of some of the stuff we still had not seen like the Marine Corp Memorial (Iwo Jima), the Kennedy Center, the Air Force Memorial and the Pentagon, and a fresh bottle of Cheerwine. Then it was 10:00 and time to go home and that was just not enough time.
And that is how we know there are good lobbyists in Washington and people who really do care about us.
-Jenni