After leaving Dena, Jay and her parents, we traveled from Bilbao through Madrid to Washington, DC. Unfortunately, Shana's bag (the only one we checked) did not make the same trip we did, and disappeared at some point. We assume that it did not make the transfer in Madrid, but despite putting a barcode on your bag, Iberia Airlines apparently has no ability to actually track it. Fortunately, we were staying with our friends Andrew and Karen in DC, and Shana was able to borrow some clothes while we went shopping for more.
Over the years, many of our "LA" friends ended up in DC, and we had lots of people to see. Fortunately, Andrew and Karen were nice enough not only to put us up in their house and lend Shana clothes, but also to host a Shabbat dinner for us all.
It was wonderful to spend time with our friends, who we had not seen in years (in some cases since before we moved to Spain), see how grown up their children are, and enjoy a very good home-cooked meal.
The next day, we went to visit our law school friend Howard, and his new wife Annie. We had not met Annie before (despite them being together for years), but it was great to get to know her and enjoy a home-cooked Shabbat lunch (sensing a theme?).
We also had dinner with one of Shana's former DOJ colleagues, Natalie, and her husband Adam, at their home in VA. Getting to meet their son Eli and dog Peanut was terrific. We were so engaged we forgot to get a photo! Shana also met up with briefly with another former DOJ colleague, Jenelle.
Our final outing with friends was to a Washington Nationals baseball game. We very much miss going to baseball games, as this was only the second one we attended in the seven years since we moved. This one was particularly special because our friend Matt is related to the owners of the team, and we got to watch it from the owner's box. Yes, this is absolutely as cool as it sounds. The box has food avaiable along with bathrooms inside (no need to mix with the hoi polloi). Despite the Nationals being out of playoff contention, and the sparse crowd,, we enjoyed a pitchers' duel that ended with a KC Royals victory (the game meant more to them than the Nats), but not before the Nats almost hit a winning homerun in the bottom of the 10th. Exciting.
It is always nice to confirm that living so far away does not diminish long-time friendships. While we attempt to stay in touch through modern technology, it is always phenomenal to see and hug dear friends in person.
We will have more to come on DC soon, but we do not want to keep you in suspense on the luggage. It took the airline five days to find the bag, but they would not send it to DC before we left. Then, they did not have the flexibility to send it directly to our next stop in Boston, so it did not arrive there before we left either. In the end, we recovered our bag from the hotel in Boston on our way to the airport to fly home. A two-week trip with no luggage for Shana. Frustrating to say the least.
More from our East Coast swing soon.
Jeff and Shana
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