Home is Where Lincoln is
Dear Bob Vogel,
This year I received a once in a lifetime opportunity — the opportunity to pursue a passion of mine, travel, and give back to the world a little bit. This incredible opportunity came with one catch — I would have to move halfway across the world and leave behind the place I had called home for the past two years. And more particularly the people I called home — November Project DC.
I have always been filled with wanderlust from a young age (thanks, mom and dad for raising me on another continent). In the past, I have always leaped at any opportunity that would carry me somewhere far away. But this spring when this new opportunity presented itself, something held me back. For the first time, I felt as though maybe the grass wasn’t always greener on the other side of the world, and there was something special happening right in our nation’s front yard that I didn’t want to leave behind.
November Project DC created a community, like nothing else I have ever experienced. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I learned not only new and creative workouts (thank you, leaders!), but also something about my city from the locations of the workouts, something about my fellow neighbors as I partnered with people from all walks of life, and also something about myself as I pushed myself physically and mentally (some days 5:30am comes really really early).
November Project DC filled the void I was always looking for by traveling elsewhere. It gave me the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone, to grow, and appreciate my surroundings. Running Meridian Hill connected me to my neighborhood as I got to see the community where I live in a different light, the steps of Lincoln connected me more than ever to America’s history (have you ever read, I mean really read, the engraving in the center of the stairs? Well I promise when you are doing burpees next to them, you will), and every Friday was a new adventure where I learned about new small business coffee shop, new hidden gems, and the city’s amazing green space. Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning, from 6:30am- 7:30am, there was nowhere else on this earth I wanted to be.
To an outsider, November Project DC could just look like a bunch of sweaty, neon-colored, runners. But this breathable-fabric-clad-group is so much more than that — they are my best friends, my teachers, my therapists, and my surrogate parents. It is because of this group, and their love and support I found the courage to take the opportunity and move 8,267 miles away because I knew that they would be there waiting for me with open hearts and arms at Lincoln on Wednesday morning when I returned.
Or at least thought they would.
When I heard that November Project DC is endangered of losing the ability to continue its workouts/community building/collective appreciation of the city/whatever it is to its members, I felt the same feeling I felt when I was first leaving DC- except now I may never be able to return to the place I call home.
I made the difficult choice to leave my home because I had something else waiting for me. Please, Bob, do not make the members of November Project DC leave their home — because there is nothing, absolutely nothing else, that can replace it in our nation’s capital.
I have one last testimony to the strength of community November Project DC has built. I write this letter from a different time zone, a different continent, where a different language is spoken all around me. But there is another person in this city who has shirts tagged with the same Lincoln image and is also from November Project DC. I haven’t done the math but I can tell you the chances of that are next to none. Just knowing there is another spray painted Lincoln here has helped make this strange city feel just a little more like home.
Sincerely,
Julia
Mbabane, Swaziland