8 Short Stories and Fun Facts About Growing Up in the DMV (Back Home)
1. President Obama Flew Past My House
On an almost weekly basis, the presidential helicopter would fly past my home. As a little girl, I loved being able to point toward the sun roof of my parents’ cars and say, “there goes the president.” It was special to be walking my little Maltese and be halted by the sound of wind slicing propellers from the row of helicopters that would escort the president of the United States.
2. Crazy Metro Story
When I was about three or four years old, my paternal grandmother, two of the kids she babysat, and I got trapped on an out of service metro train. It was during the day, when many were at work, so it wasn’t like it was easy to tell that the train was out of service. The doors opened and the lights were on so we boarded the train. After a few minutes, we realized we were on a out of service train. We frantically pushed the emergency help button and shortly after a staticky voice came through the speaker. An attendant came a few moments later by walking through the doors that connected each train to manually let us off. I remember being so afraid that I closed my eyes, bowed my head and started praying.
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| We're Nat's fans. |
3. Our Music: GoGo
So I started listening to GoGo Music (somewhat) seriously in tenth grade. I guess I shouldn’t say really seriously. I wasn’t a “GoGo Head” or anything. I feel really old using that term. I’m resisting the urge to say, “oops now I’m showing my age.” Anyway, in high school, gogo music was all over the place. I used to love when they would play it over the cafeteria speaker at lunch, and sometimes let people get up and chop or just dance. I remember when I was on the dance team, during my first pep rally performance, we danced to a mix, with a popular GoGo song in it. I really wish I had a clip. I feel like I have very little footage of my high school dancing days. I stopped listening to most mainstream music shortly after, so I wasn’t up to date with the latest trends in GoGo.
Interestingly enough, during my sophomore year of college, I was reintroduced to Gospel GoGo at an event and have been listening to it ever since. Whenever I was a little home sick, or in need of encouragement, I would blast it through my headphones or my little black Bose speaker.
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| There was a spacesuit behind my desk. |
4.Opportunities
Being so close to the nation’s capital provides many unique learning, employment and general experiential opportunities. I remember visiting the White House in preschool, walking the steps of the monument in elementary school and interning at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in college. Sure, you can travel here and receive those same opportunities, but I think it’s really cool and convenient to live so close. Those are just a few of the opportunities and experiences that I’ve been blessed to enjoy. There’s many more I could name, but even with those on my list, there’s still a lot of places I haven’t been that I would like to explore in the near future.
5. Social Justice Events/Marches/Notable Figures
In the same light, there were also plenty of opportunities to participate in social justice oriented events such as marches and rallies. One of my greatest memories is being pulled out of school early in 5th grade to participate in an annual Black Rights Awareness march and rally and walking alongside several notable and everyday African Americans who were concerned about their communities. That stuck with me, and helped shape how I view myself and the world.
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| If you look very closely you can see Stevie Wonder. |
Another great event was Dr. King Day during the era of Former President Obama, the first black president. As you can imagine, and probably remember, that was a very significant and special time in history. My mom and I went out to do community service that day and several celebrities of all kinds were in town. I feel like I’m mixing up two different days now, but that’s okay. If I am, they were around the same time. I remember ending either that day, or another day, singing Happy Birthday, Ribbon in the Sky or both along with Stevie Wonder, behind a few hundred other people.
6. Proximity
Okay, I’m going to say this, and don’t get mad, but the DMV has experienced tremendous geographic growth over the last few years, and no the earth didn’t expand. Butttt, I’ve seen a lot of hardcore arguments on social media and I don’t want to incite anything, so I’m going to leave that alone (shade). But, on a serious note, it’s cool to be so close to D.C., Northern Virginia and Maryland. I think it was originally called the DMV because all of D.C., some parts of Maryland and Northern Virginia are all connected. That was the little area that people referred to as the DMV, I thought. But if you’re from either of the two states or D.C., today, you most likely consider yourself a part of the DMV, and I’m all for unity and local pride, so hello everyone out there with those three letters in your Twitter bio.
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| Here is a beautiful view of "that hill" from my old dorm. |
7. Weather
So it’s true what they say. We get all four seasons here and at anytime, any one of those seasons can be very dramatic. Sometimes we get blizzards. Some of my favorite were the blizzard of 2010 where we got two weeks off of school. (If you don’t remember that you’re too young.) And, there was a big one my freshman year of college where we got a little over a week off. I lived in a huge dorm with a big hill in front of it. I remember hearing buzz about people sneaking trays out of the cafeteria to use as sleds, then looking out of my window watching people risk their lives and slide prostrate down the hill on a tray that I had probably used to carry a piece of pizza on a few weeks earlier. Sometimes we get severe storms. Every once in a while there is a very small tornado touch down. I remember one major hurricane and a “derecho” that was a pretty big deal. We get small Earth quakes every once in a while too, and no, I didn’t feel that last one. I was on the metro.
8. People
Finally, what’s any experience without good people? I appreciate and admire you the people of the DMV. We’re kind of like a mix between busy, straightforward New Yorkers, and deep Southerners, but not as nice (even though we’re technically considered the South, nobody here considers themselves a Southerner, except maybe some deep VA, eastern MD people). What I’m really trying to say is that you guys are alright.
Stay tuned for a surprise at the end of this series!
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
~1Peter 2:9
Here's one of my fav Gogo songs:
