Progress Report: Operation FILWDC.

I was speechless.

The lights. The monuments. The moon. The reflections on the water.

Everything was so beautiful. Everything was so breathtaking.

For a half second I forgot where I was. I found myself in a state of deep appreciation and wonder.

And then, I quickly snapped back into reality. And then, I caught myself on the verge of thinking myself out of those magical feelings. And then, I let myself go again. I let myself fall even deeper into the wonderfully intoxicating feelings.

Why am I still so resistant towards falling in lust with this city? Once upon a time, I wrote about Cheating on Europe. While this post obviously discussed my feelings towards the country of Europe, it also predicted the feelings I am currently experiencing towards Boston. I find myself constantly talking about how much I love Boston, how much I miss Boston and – most importantly – how I am surprised to find that I like Washington, DC as much as I do, but that I will never love it nearly as much as I love(d) the city of Boston.

The fact of the matter is that I am starting to fall for this city (truth) and it makes me feel like I’ve left Boston behind. Granted, I have left Boston behind, at least from a literal standpoint, but a large part of me is still desperately clinging to the city that most recently captured my heart.

However, I do want to be open to a new lust – dare I say love? – affair. As I said 10 months ago, “cities are fantastic lovers.” And I’m starting to realize that DC has the potential to take me for quite a ride.

Note: Operation FILWDC stands for “Operation Fall in Love with DC,” a project (so to speak) I began shortly after I moved to our nation’s capitol. Visit Operation Fall in Love with DC to read up on the back story of the operation.

I’ll be a dancer in my next life.

I’ve always wanted to dance. Well maybe not always…maybe I didn’t looove it when I was actually doing it (ballet, jazz, tap, clogging – ha! yes, clogging) in Kindergarten, 1st & 2nd grade…but ever since then, I find myself thinking…

Wow, I wish I was a dancer!

I still blame my mom for not putting me back into dance classes when we moved the summer before I entered the 3rd grade. But I know it probably wasn’t her fault. Instead, I most likely said I didn’t want to do it anymore. Just like piano.

I wish I would have kept dancing.

But of course, it’s always easier to say “I wish I did _____” in retrospect.

I have all the dance movies – Dirty Dancing, Center Stage, Save the Last Dance, Step Up…every time (and there have been a lot of times) I watch them, I watch with envy.

I watch all the dance reality TV shows – So You Think You Can Dance, Dancing With the Stars, Dance War…every time (again, there have been a lot of times) I watch them, I watch in awe.

Wow, that’s amazing! That’s incredible! I wish I could move like that! I wish I had her body! Why couldn’t I have stuck with dance when I was young & impressionable?

I’m starting to get over it. It is what it is. Life isn’t like the movies. Life isn’t like reality television. Unfortunately. Or fortunately? I guess it depends on how you look at it.

I’m just focusing on what I can do now – and what I will do, in my next life.

Now I have to be happy with dancing in the club, around my apartment or in Zumba class at the gym.

In my next life, I’ll be a dancer. I’ll learn the moves faster than Baby in Dirty Dancing. I’ll prove everyone wrong like Jody in Center Stage. I’ll shock the world more than Melissa from The Bachelor on Dancing with the Stars. And I’ll fall in love with the sexiest bad boy turned arts school student like Nora in Step Up.

Yes, just wait…I’ll be a dancer in my next life. This life is just for practice.