Update

I'm in a suit, having completed a mock-interview in preparation for the 4 hour firm-interview I have on Monday. My mind is racing and my ears are red because I'm revved up in general, and also because I had 1/2 caffeinated coffee this morning. I'm afraid that I'm turning into one of those law students who does nothing except talk about stress and law school. So to fend that off...

Recently, I've been waking up in the morning with someone from my life in Maine in my mind, or a particular memory vividly displayed on the internal screen. As I move into the interview process, which signals a further commitment to DC for the time being since I'm only applying to summer jobs and internship here, my memory chose to take me back to the night I left New York in August 2004. It seems like a long time ago.

I had been diligently bringing boxes home from work every night and the place was pretty well stored away, but those last-minute items always take longer than anticipated. I had a "moving/going-away party" that my New York friends so generously came to and helped us carry things down the four flights of steep stairs to the U-haul. Afterwards, I drove it the rickety thing to an open-lot in mid-town and then met up with everyone for drinks. I remember feeling supported and good about the move...and I remember how delicious the quesedia I ate tasted after all the lifting.

The next day we went to the U.S. Open and saw Roger Federer play. Then we returned to finish up the final packing of my studio on the UWS. We stuffed the last item in the truck around 9 pm and decided that we might as well push on and drive to DC that night. It was a bold move, considering we were going to sushi on the upper east with his cousins first, which put as at an ETA in DC of around 4 am.

Energized by the definitive (if a little ridiculous) decision we'd made, we jumped in the U-haul cab to head swinging and stuttering across town. But when I turned the key the ignition did NOTHING. NOTHING. Not a single little "putt" from the tired engine. I don't remember what I felt, because those feelings were so quickly eclipsed by extreme gratitude. A couple out on a date were looking for a parking space, and they not only had jumper cables, but agreed to help us --- even after we told them it was an illegal spot that we'd be freeing up.

And so, we rumbled across town, shuttering each time I had to make it down a particularly narrow street or make any merge-like-move (you cannot see out the back of a U-haul). We ate delicious sushi. And then we rumbled south on I-95, with the A/C off and the red engine light glowing all the while.