Goodbye, for now, DC!

DC spring scenes. Dupont Circle, my favorite neighborhood. Below right; a new Target store, Columbia Heights, an up-and-coming neighborhood around a new metro station, Howard and Don, hard to see, near flowers.

I am going home to Ohio tomorrow! It’s hard to believe I left Kyiv, Ukraine, on 9 February, and arrived in DC on 1 March, a little over a month ago. I had made a hasty trip from my COS conference in Slavsky back to Starobelsk to pack it up and say goodbye. My dear friend Natalia on Kyrova, with whom I was living, hosted a beautiful Paka Party, a bittersweet time for all of us. So hard to say goodbye. I considered myself a fulltime PCV, torn asunder from my village, my projects, and the many friends I had made over two years. It was a huge transition for which I wasn't prepared.

It was still winter in Ukraine, but I was looking forward to spring in Starobelsk, walking about town, through Lenin park, and reveling in Luba's and Natalia’s gardens. I was hoping to see the lilacs again, in such grand profusion everywhere, their scent perfuming the air, and the iris: that blessed time of year when Starobelsk becomes “a lavender world.” It’s a time I described in a blog exactly one year ago, one that Loren loved; we reminisced about the lilacs in Rochester, NY where we grew up. It was one of the last blogs Loren read and we discussed together, and it will always be special to me for that reason. He told me he loved the color lavender.

Spring has unfolded slowly and inexorably in DC since I’ve been here, and my perspective along with it. It has eased the transition back to the States, and the realization that I would not be returning to Ukraine. Spring somewhat cushioned the sadness. I've had a gazillion doctors’ appointments, and all the medical issues are resolved. Almaz and Laura W at Peace Corps headquarters were a terrific help. I’ve walked around Georgetown, downtown, Foggy Bottom, Dupont Circle, all beautiful, vibrant neighborhoods. I’ve had lovely lunches and dinners with friends; spent time with Rita, a group 36er, and other PCVs who are staying at the elegant (for PCVs) Georgetown Suites for a variety of medical issues, none critical it seems to all of us. Most of us come to view it as a vacation, after the initial shock of being here wears off. Most of us will return to our sites, like Emily, now back in China, Amy in Ecquador, Brent, back in Azerbaijan, and Sarah, on her way back to the mountains of Peru.

In my case, however, I will not go back. My PC service is officially at an end. Tomorrow, Tuesday, I take the train to my new home in Sylvania. Somehow the transition I'm making from St. Petersburg, Florida to Ohio, moving all my material stuff, doesn't seem as difficult as the transition from PCV to RPCV, moving around the mental stuff and getting it sorted out and organized. DC has given me some time to start the process, and for that I am grateful.

So goodbye, for now, DC. I'll be back, maybe when my PCV friend Jud gets settled in here. He's arriving 29 May he just told me; it buoyed my spirits just to know that. I hope I can return to Ukraine someday, too, or host friends here in the states. Who knows where life will take us, but I will take life as it comes.