I know that many of you who do not personally know Caitlin, believe that I am exaggerating when I call her Elle (from the movie, "Legally Blonde"). You are thinking, there could not possibly be an actual person out there who is like that. For those of us who DO know her...we beg to differ.
Finally settling into her new semester in Washington, D.C., Caitlin has already learned a lot about not only the city, but our nation's capitol and people in general. The first weekend found her on a scavenger hunt with classmates to the different quadrants of the city. Some of those area were very safe while others quite frightening for her. I must admit that I want to know what is going on there, while also not knowing. Does that make any sense? It is scary to know that my daughter had to walk over 20 blocks...in the dark...from a bad neighborhood where she had been tutoring disadvantaged kids in a building where she had to be locked in. OK, now...I definitely freaked out a little bit about that and she cried that evening. When Rapunzel jumped out of that castle tower, I knew she was entering the "real world", but WOW! After surviving that day (she and I both), she began classes. That included meeting her mentor and the individuals from her internship. I'm happy to report that she liked all of those folks and seemed to be getting adjusted...just in time for the State of the Union Address.
I got a text message from her that evening stating that she and several of her classmates would be heading downtown for dinner...and to watch "some speech" the president was giving on television that evening. I shared this with Robby who suggested I text her back and tell her it was called The State of the Union Address. I did that along with another suggestion of my own...don't make too many comments; just listen. She said, "Oh, don't worry, I told them I was only going for the hot wings!" And so that was the plan...until someone goaded her into offering her opinion. It seems that, although it was a mixed group of liberal and conservative students, the liberals were the most vocal. They offered that perhaps the reason she was not an Obama fan was due to the fact that her parents made too much money. Hmmm...Let's see, first I had to ask myself, "What would be considered 'too much money'...and second, I had to remind myself that these were merely KIDS discussing this issue; WHAT THE HECK DID THEY EVEN KNOW ABOUT WORKING, TAXES OR THE "REAL WORLD" FOR THAT MATTER?! I was just telling myself to calm down when another text message went off. I hurriedly opened it and had to laugh at what it said, "I couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer, Mom; I told them that my dad had worked his butt off for every penny he had ever earned!" Oh well...the best laid plans had gone awry. I suppose this is why the Democrats and Republicans don't sit on the same sides of the room in Congress! The evening went on and the President's speech continued. and at one point someone told Caitlin to "shut up and listen to what he was saying"...wrong thing to tell a spunky southern girl when she's eating her hot wings. She promptly told them, "YOU can shove it...because I WANT SOME RANCH DRESSING FOR MY HOT WINGS!"
At the end of the evening, she told me that she guessed she was going to have to do a little research. "Research on what?", I asked. "Who all those people were at the speech", she replied. "All my classmates recognized their names and faces and I didn't know who they all were." OH MY GOSH! I could just see her googling the members of the House and Congress, printing their names and pictures out and making flash cards out them (seriously...). Presently, she informed me that she loaded a news network and newspaper icon on her i-phone; that's a start! I'm not sure how she will survive Washington, D.C. or how it will survive her. But one thing is for certain...neither will be the same after Ellle leaves the city!
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