This Easter wasn’t unlike many in the last couple of
years. With schools not coordinating
Spring breaks with the Easter holiday it can be very difficult to see
family. I figured I would spend this
Easter with some friends from grad school but many of them were lucky enough
this year to be able to visit their families over Easter weekend.
I was looking forward to a laid back Easter and maybe a
little homework catch up. However I
decided to volunteer to serve Easter lunch at Central Union Mission near U Street
in DC. Central Union has a long history
of serving the homeless in the Capital.
It was started as a way to care for Civil War veterans on the streets of
DC. It’s intriguing history along with the
fact that it provides professional training alongside its basic food and
shelter programs made me very interested in helping out at this organization.
After attending mass alone I headed down to the mission. Upon arriving there I was surprised to find that there were
so many volunteers that had come out on Easter Sunday! There were approximately 18 volunteers
serving food and drinks to the men at the facility. Of about half the people there I would say
that a quarter of them were in a similar situation as myself. They are away from their families and wanted
something meaningful to do on Easter.
Many of us showed up solo, but made friends while serving food. I left with another girl my age whose friends
regularly host an “Orphans Easter Brunch” for all the young professionals they
know in the city who don’t have a place to go for the holiday. She generously inviting me along and after
navigating the crazy one way streets and roundabouts to get over to South East
DC I was surprised to enter a beautiful row house crammed full of 20 something’s
like myself!! There were easily 60 people there with more
people coming and going constantly.
Everyone was so welcoming and a lot of fun to be around. The afternoon turned out to be a truly unique
Easter; from sword fights on the front lawn, to discussing politics, religion
and talking about what aspects of our life we want to improve on.
It can be very hard to be away from those you love
especially on holidays but if you are open to it, unexpected experiences often
present themselves. Having spent Easter
with what I like to call Financial Crisis Orphans*, I saw that not only was I
not the only one dealing with navigating a new lifestyle but that it is
incredibly common for my generation. On
a daily basis we have to adapt and recreate our lives because everything is
constantly changing. Not only do many of
us lack the financial support of our now sinking middle class families but we
are also characterized by having moved houses every year for the last five
years. That partnered with stints abroad,
probably at least one long distance relationship, then throw in job insecurity and
the fact that all of our friends are as transient as we are; you get a sense of
how little permanence there is in our lives.
None of this makes me value my friends or family any less but leads to
great anxiety over trying to juggle responsibilities and relationships that
span several time zones. The idea of a 5
year plan for yourself seems as unlikely as mastering mandarin in 6
months. Planning seems impossible
because all your energy is spent on navigating the challenges of the week ahead
of you, and working on the 30 different things you have in the pipeline in
order to survive the next 6 months and keep paying rent. It can be very stressful but for me at least,
I’ve begun to treasure the chaos in my life and value the random experiences
and people that life throws in my path.
In this life a holiday spent amongst strangers at a party hosted by a girl
whose name I can’t remember seems as normal as a holiday with my family.
This holiday was very exemplary not just of my life but of
the lives of many people living here in DC.
My intent is for this blog to provide a glimpse into my little every day
adventures and highlight what life as a 20 something is really like.
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