Bob Greenberger

I admit it, I’m jealous of Kate. Walking through her dorm and the GW campus, I saw all these people having fun, studying and making new lives for themselves. The possibilities before them are endless and they’re doing it located in one of the most exciting places to be, especially when you’re young.

Our trip down was horrendous (too much traffic) but once we pulled up to the curb at 10:45 p.m., we found a third wind. Kate and her pal Matt helped us unload the goodies and wow, there was even a legal parking space in front of the dorm. As we arrived on the fifth floor, Kate began dissecting the provisions and then ushered in a parade of floormates, all of who were asked to stick around to say hello. They were, as expected, a mixed bunch but all seemed genuinely pleased to stop in and linger a bit. Kate totally forgot to hand out the donuts but no doubt they’re gone by now.

After an hour or so of visiting, we trudged to the hotel a few blocks away. The GWU Inn is highly recommended for anyone heading down – it’s not just for University-affiliated people. Spacious, well-maintained rooms at good prices.

Saturday, we met for breakfast and touring the campus, highlighted by buildings Kate frequents. The woman at the coffee shop now knows Kate by name, which is kinda cool. Everything is a short walk away, even the middle school where she tutors eighth graders in American History. The only stops we didn’t make were to the Mount Vernon campus so we’ll take her word it’s nice.

We of course bought apparel at the school bookstore and we were shown the infamous J Street, where Aramark offers students dining options. I was appalled. Eight or so fast food style choices so it was an United Nations of grease. Kate had complained she couldn’t always eat as healthily as she wanted and now we understand. Even the Hatchet, the school paper, wrote an editorial last week condemning the $4.5 million renovation as a step backward for the students. I’ll be writing a letter to the University president that will no doubt fall on deaf ears.

She herded us to the Metro to a neighborhood with a cluster of ethnic restaurants, happy to show off and convinced I’d be thrilled. Well, she was right. Deb didn’t want Thai and we always have Indian when confronted with these choices so opted instead to try Lebanese. It was quite tasty and we took advantage of the gorgeous, sunny weather to eat outdoors.

Back to Foggy Bottom and an afternoon of shopping. Kate joined Competitive Ballroom Dancing and needs clothes for her practices and forthcoming competitions. Plus a few other things, because, after all, she’s a college student who always needs something. Fortunately, M Street is the main Georgetown drag and the weather was conducive to strolling. Also, we wisely planned ahead and brought along Premiere. A stop at Sephora, I take a seat and read. A stop at H&M, more reading. And so on. Kate found everything she needed and we even treated ourselves to a Ben & Jerry’s pit stop.

Along the way, we scoped restaurants, checking for dinner options. Our goal, after all, was to visit and enjoy Kate's company, restock her and also to make sure we got some good food into her. We settled on Manhattan’s, an American restaurant, and continued on our way with the final stop being a visit to Barnes & Noble.

I will admit to doing more rack organizing than browsing. I spruced up the graphic novel shelves, putting the DC trades in a more logical order, and yes, also cleaned up the Marvels a bit. But, I was shocked to see a shelf full of The DC Comics Encyclopedia. I knew it had an October 18 or so release date, so should not have been surprised to see it out given typical publisher release patterns, but it caught me off guard. (And yes, I also made sure my Star Trek novels were nice and neat.) As we left, I was also very pleased to see a table of books on American and World History with a stack of You Did What? nestled among them.

Kate went back to her dorm to change and stow away her purchases. Deb napped. I read my book for a bit. When Kate returned, neither woman was ready to trudge back into Georgetown so we opted for a closer locale. And so we wound up across the street from her dorm at Bertucci’s. We got caught up in the post-Yom Kippur rush (including a table of 14 of her floormates). Eventually we were seated and Kate was amused that we had a relatively new waiter and she critiqued his performance throughout the meal (after all, she’s such a pro now after five months). Still, she loved having salad and vegetables and even a good dessert so it all worked out. She even got to bring back pizza leftovers for another meal. After a quick browse at Tower Records we parted ways for the night.

On Sunday, Kate turned up at 10 and we lingered for a bit, chatting – mostly about knitting, since Kate had finished piecing together a sweater she was proud of and Deb was taking it home to block. We finally headed out for brunch only to discover the front desk was wrong and our first choice didn’t serve brunch and our second choicer didn’t start serving until 11. So we fell back on our initial choice, Paper Moon, right off M Street. It was a nice, Italian restaurant with a buffet with a wide range of options. Not necessarily the best food we’ve ever had but it was fresh, plentiful and a good deal for the price.

We headed back to the car, I snapped off some shots of the girls (Deb cut her hair real short on Friday and Kate has dyed hers a golden brown) and then we had some lingering hugs and before you knew it we were on our way home. Fortunately, the trip wasn’t too terrible and we made the trip in 5:45 or so with two stops. Robbie, who excelled at being home alone for the weekend, had done the laundry and had a nice chicken dinner ready for us. So, we ate and watched Clubhouse with him. (Aside: the show is a little pat and predictable, but it’s well cast and charming and Rob has decided we’re adding it to the rotation.)

Mission accomplished. Deb got to see for herself that Kate was fine. She seems remarkably happy and well adjusted. Living on the honors floor agrees with her and the floor has gelled quite nicely. She has developed social contacts on the floor, through class, through dancing and so on. She’ll never be lonely. Her work habits seem fine with her roommate Amy commenting that Kate manages to study at all hours as time permits. She goes to class, waitresses 1-2 times a week, dances, goes to church, tutors…what more could we want from her?

Our pride in her is mixed, naturally, with sadness over the distance. Still, we’re better off than our parents who subsisted on the occasional letter and weekly call home.

And now a new week dawns.