And then there’s the way that people come here, earnest and full of dreams, believing that they can make a difference. That’s the thing about DC – people are always leaving but that makes space for the new transplants, the crowds that keep flooding in, full of energy and wonder.

She could feel herself getting sentimental, which she always was. Sometimes she missed people before they even left her, got depressed about a vacation being over before it started.

I hated that the Metro was carpeted, and that it was so far underground – you felt like a mole by the time you got down the escalator – and I hated that you had to swipe your card to get in and out of the station. I hated that you couldn’t eat or drink on the train, and I especially hated that everyone obeyed the rule, like they were afraid they’d be arrested for sipping a cup of Starbucks on their morning commute.

It seemed to Abby that the peacock was strutting, showing off his feathers to an invisible audience in the night. It didn’t look like he was worried about the peahen. He looked selfish and self-absorbed, like he knew he was beautiful. Abby watched his feathers blow in the wind, and she watched as the peahens followed with all of their strength. They followed because it was all they had ever down; they followed because it was all they knew how to do.

In college, 29 had seemed impossibly old. By now, she’d thought she’d be married and have kids. But as each year went by, she didn’t feel much different than she had before. Time kept going by and she was just here, the same.

You can imagine anything to be fun in retrospect- look at all those people who long for high school.

When a friendship ends, people don’t always give it the same amount of thought that they do relationships... most of the time, friendships end in a different way – slowly, and without declarations. Usually people don’t really notice until a friend has been gone for a while and then they just say they grew apart, or their lives became too different.

If a televised hug could affect an election, weren’t we all just really screwed?

When, I wondered, did every pregnant person get together and decide that Mama was the appropriate term to use? Why did having a baby turn these people into hillbillies?

It made them restless and irritable while they waited for something to start. They all knew they ought to feel different in their new lives, but they felt the same and it put them on edge. Hot and impatient, they fidgeted in the heat, grumbling and asking each other, “What next? What next?