Thirteen years ago, I packed up the car with a 7-year-old, a Golden Retriever and a Siamese cat; and I left the Midwest to take the nation’s capital by storm. My first column for the now-defunct Telocator magazine was titled, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,” and detailed a neophyte’s first impressions of Washington, D.C.
Many years and several jobs have passed (along with the cat and the dog). I’ve learned the intricacies and the idiosyncrasies of the regulatory side of wireless. I’ve covered countless FCC meetings and spent time with myriad staffers there, learning everything I could about the stories behind the stories. After all this time, I still get lost in the Capitol and its House and Senate office buildings, but I still feel the same awe (please don’t tell the congressmen) at my surroundings when my press tags gain me entree to crowded meetings that impact what carriers, manufacturers and subscribers will be able to do with untethered communications.
Washington has the reputation of using people up and spitting them out because of the pace and the politics. Luckily, I’ve been able to roll with the punches. There always has been another story around the corner, numerous sources to court, a key opinion to pursue and more dirt to dish. I’ve learned so many life skills here. I can parallel park with the best of them, name dropping now comes naturally, networking is everything, and anyone will talk as long as you don’t burn them or spell their name incorrectly.
There are some things, though, that I haven’t been able to accomplish during my tenure in Moscow on the Potomac (my mother’s pet name for the District):
I never was courted to be an FCC commissioner,
That press secretary job on the Hill never materialized,
I still haven’t been subpoenaed by Ken Starr and
I keep missing Walter Cronkite at the National Press Club.
A lot has happened in 13 years. The 7-year-old has grown up to be a sophomore in college who still doesn’t understand what I do for a living. I’ve grown, too, and sometimes I don’t understand what I do for a living, or why. I’ve written for some of the best rags in the wireless industry; a few stories caused me to sweat but in the end, I’m proud they were published. I’ve gotten awards, and I’ve been told to watch my back.
And last week, I sold our house.
By the time you read this, I’ll be packing up the old homestead and heading down to the Sunshine State. Mr. Wayne was transferred there last December, and I guess married people should live together at least some of the year.
I will miss this paper, and I will miss this city.
