How the other half lives

I'm not entirely sure "outside the beltway" exists at all.

Today I begin a week of house and dog sitting for my parents while they vacation in Mexico. Goodbye friendly sidewalks of Ballston; hello manicured lawns of Fox Chase Point, or whatever the hell their subdivision is called.

I’m going to treat it like a novelty. Be an optimist. Driving three miles to go to WalMart for a loaf of bread is fun, I will tell myself, instead of the soul-sucking, economy-killing, global warming-inducing thing that it really is. If 200 million Americans can do it, so can I.

The good news is I can use their car to make a trip to Hagerstown. Why is that such good news? Too personal for the blog ;-)

Tags: personal