Sometimes you’re the windshield; sometimes you’re the bug

Sometimes you’re the windshield; sometimes you’re the bug. Mark Knopfler qtd. in Ann Brashares’s The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

Yesterday, I was the windshield—literally.

It was a beautiful day, and I decided it was way past due that I take advantage of the many miles of trails in the area. I began at Daingerfield Island with the simple intention of taking a walk to get some exercise and take in some of the area sites. In my six years living in such close proximity to the Mount Vernon Trail, this was only my third ever time on it—and my very first time ever traveling more than a tenth of a mile on it.

I found walking the trail pleasant, and before long, had come upon and then eventually passed National Airport and all the folks amusedly sitting and watching the planes take off overhead. Next I passed the 14th Street Bridge, thinking of all the times I have used it to cross the Potomac River on my drive to school. I kept walking. I don’t know what quite came over me, but I fixed my eyes upon the Memorial Bridge (my route for most of my journeys into DC), and decided I’d go there. In the middle of the bridge, I paused to look over the water—over into Georgetown, and back at Northern Virginia. Then I headed for the Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pool.

If it wasn’t for the fact that I was due at my boss’ going away party in the evening, I might have just kept walking. I definitely felt like I was having a moment like in Forest Gump when he decides to run, and just keeps running back and forth across the country. (Well, except that I was mostly walking, although I did jog on the way back to Daingerfield Island to try and minimize how late I would be to the goodbye party…who knew that it would take so long to get from Daingerfield to the Lincoln Memorial and back? Well, apparently I would have known if I had consulted a map first. As it turns out, one-way the trip is approximately 4.5 miles long, making a whopping 9 miles roundtrip for my leisurely afternoon walk!)

In any case, I loved every yard/meter of it! I didn’t even mind the two bugs that ended up careening into my glasses (hence my literal embodiment of a windshield). In fact, thinking about it in terms of Knopfler’s quotation above, I am actually quite proud to have spent my Saturday as a windshield: I was in motion, moving forward, taking myself to new places—all good things. Better yet, hopefully a good omen for the new school year about to begin.