Going Back to the DMV...

My first trip back.

It’s been nearly six months since we moved to Ohio, and I haven’t been back to Washington for work once. I’ve been other places: Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, Texas: but not the DMV.

My wife goes all the time, but now it’s my turn, with the Inauguration this weekend. Obviously, I am not relishing attending this. I’ve felt this way before with both of Obama’s Inaugurals and Trump’s first, having attended all three. Funny, how with the passages of time and changes in politics how I look back at Obama’s, at least, differently.

Inaugurations are really best enjoyed indoors, unless you have an actual ticket. It’s cold and miserable out on the mall, and I get it if you are really excited, but it’s like a slightly less bad New Year’s Eve in Times Square. You can be part of history, no diapers required.

Since the twins (sorry, dogs!) are making their first trip back in this span, too, we’re going to catch up with some of our family in Virginia, and visit the old stomping grounds and see friends.

I might have to bring an extra piece of luggage just for all of my Lidl hauls! Just kidding: we’re a Delta family now, and we haven’t earned the status for free extra checked bags yet.

The notion of “home” in one’s mind of course varies person to person. Most commonly, “home is where the heart is” applies to most, but some people never move. Home is always a physical place. Other people are nomadic.

When I moved to Missouri in college, I became a resident and lived there full time, but Ohio was always “home.” Virginia became home, at least it should’ve after 17 years. During the time I was away in college, or even in Virginia, it was rare to go 5-6 months without going to visit my parents. Saint Louis and Missouri were a place I called home, but visiting there was a little more difficult given the distance. Midwesterners love driving, after all.

I’ve thought about the concept of “home” when people I don’t know ask me where I live. I tell them “we just moved to Cincinnati from Virginia.” But I suspect as 2025 goes on, I am just going to say Cincinnati or Ohio.

I came up with this formulation because it is the distilled down longer version of:

Where do you live?

Cincinnati.

What do you do there?

I work at a magazine.

What kind of magazine?

Political.

That doesn’t really track, is it based there?

No. I lived in Washington for a long time and just moved there.

Why?

It’s a long story.

The distilled version isn’t perfect. Follow up questions often lead down this same path. But really, it is me struggling to articulate that Cincinnati and Ohio are, once again, my home. (Despite a t-shirt or two in the family with “home” written over an outline of the state of Ohio, the best shaped state.)

There are a number of things I miss about Washington and mostly, it’s people. My family there (on both sides), fraternity brothers, former colleagues, current colleagues. My Eagles club. We never really built an in-office work culture, as the magazine really grew into its own during COVID. That enabled the move here, but I do miss having an office, the opportunity to go get lunch with people, since most of the people in my field are based there.

Of course, the one-of-a-kind Washington offerings are precisely that: one of a kind. I’m lucky to be able to have a reason to go back for work, but seeing family and friends are excuses to get back, too. We did have a trip back planned in December, but that fell through.

I am excited to go back to my old Lidl and Food Lion(s). As great as Kroger, Meijer, and Jungle Jim’s are, all three are gargantuan by comparison. Our local neighborhood Kroger is like a more cluttered Food Lion, but the others are like the sizes of a Super Walmart. It is hard to get in and out of any of them in 10 minutes.

There are too many things I’d like to do to fit into one trip back. And it’s slated to snow, so who knows how disastrous the roads are going to be. Washingtonians bristle at the slightest hint of precipitation. A driver is dead after an accident sent their truck to the bottom of the Potomac last night. The Inauguration has turned the city into a police state, a form that is always at the ready. A bad combination.

Because of this, obviously it knocks out a lot of the outdoor activities: see Prince William Forest Park, go golfing, etc. Yes, I was the kind of guy to go golfing in January.

January golf in Virginia.

Twin B is getting into skateboarding and has begged to bring her penny board. If it were spring and she were more experienced, I’d be interested in taking her to a skate park or pump track in DC, but we’re not there yet.

I don’t think we’ll be able to get all of the shopping in. Too many people to see!

Though, I suspect it will be weird driving all around the region that I long called home.