October Saturday on Capitol Hill

Happy October, everyone!  My cousin Katie (visiting from Oklahoma), Lena, and I drove to my old ‘hood of Capitol Hill on Saturday to soak up the season.  Have you ever been to Eastern Market in D.C.?  There is no place I’d rather be on a Saturday morning in the fall!  The market glowed with color and beauty at every turn.  The sellers’ wares sparkled in the sunlight, hot apple cider wafted through the air, and the flea market was in full swing.  We crunched leaves underfoot as we bit into crisp apples from a farm stand.  We ate breakfast with my brother at Jimmy T’s, met up with my brother-in-law as he headed into Peregrine Espresso for coffee and emails, and randomly ran into an old college friend as he walked out of Groovy with his wife. 

This is my neighborhood, my heart cried (and my mouth, as my cousin Katie will tell you).  I love Sicily, but I think I left a piece of my heart on the Hill.  It’s bittersweet to come back to this place where I once belonged, where Elliott and I shared our newlywed days and memories, where I spent a long year while he was on an unaccompanied assignment in Egypt.  Lena’s first home was our condo on Capitol Hill.  Every block between our old home, church, and Barracks Row holds a dozen memories. 

Will we come back to the Hill after our assignment in Sicily?  Will we choose to come back?  What do you prioritize in a home, in a neighborhood, in a community, in a city? 

Do you return to the places you know because they were good to you before?  Or do you choose the unknown?