Moving On

One of the goals of FatCratz is to capture in all its effervescent nuance the life experience of those who spend the vast majority of their professional careers "inside the beltway." We want to capture it the DC  experience in a bottle (apologies to Jim Croce) and pour it out for all of America to, er, enjoy.

One reader suggests that we allow the FatCratz out there to speak for themselves, and suggests a method for doing so. We'll call it "Moving On."

We beltway denizens all know the emails that circulate when staffers move from one office to the next, often bearing subject lines like "moving on" or "farewell" or "see you later, suckers." Their purpose, ostensibly, is to provide contact information so all our networking contacts can remain up to date. But this purpose is often a pretext for a victory lap or two.

In that spirit, here's our first "Moving On". Part of its glory is its length (I've included only 279 of its 700 words), but this is also a priceless line: "...for the first time in my adult life, I will go to work at a place not connected to the Capitol Building underground.  I’m at once thrilled and horrified." Enjoy (*see privacy policy below):

Dear friends—My journey to the Hill started six hours after undergraduate commencement on May 16, 1999.  I went to my parent’s house for a graduation party, said goodbye to some friends, and hit the road.  I arrived in DC at 4 AM, and started working for Congressman ______ of _______ at 8 AM…and as they say; the rest is history.

It would take a book to describe all of the experiences I’ve had during my ten years here…historic and joyful moments, legislative victories, hysterically funny moments, and sometimes stressful, disappointing, and altogether tragic moments.  I’ve seen just about everything you can see, from the shooting of two Capitol Policemen, to Anthrax week, to watching the medal award ceremony for Rosa Parks, to the passage of the 2001 Tax Cuts, to 911, to Hurricane Katrina, and the Obama Inauguration.

I have been hugged by Robert Byrd (one of my favorite moments), yelled at by Lula for using my Blackberry on the floor (actually on several occasions…yikes), and I’ve shared an amazing moment talking to Paul Wellstone in a Subway car, just a week before his plane crash.  I got to shake Ted Kennedy’s hand and laugh with Senator Brownback in the hallway…  I got married, had a beautiful baby, and got divorced…all while on the Hill. I got picked up from Ted Stevens airport in Alaska, by Ted Stevens…beat that…seriously.  And I flew of Mount Denali in a C-130, a religious experience…all of this during my 10 years on the Hill.

I’ve met the most amazing people—my best friends—with whom (God willing), I will grow old.  I’ve been here long enough to see nearly all of the friends I came here with leave…and some come back.  Now it’s my turn.

I’m moving on.  Luckily I’ll continue to be a public servant and I’ll send the details next week…but for the first time in my adult life, I will go to work at a place not connected to the Capitol Building underground.  I’m at once thrilled and horrified.
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*FatCratz is a journalistic experiment, and we seek to employ journalistic ethics. We're not in the business of posting private emails. But in our view, emails that are circulated to an entire office or email system, and have been freely shared by the recipient, scarcely qualify as private. All personally identifying information will be removed, but if you recognize your work in "Moving On" and want it removed from our site, we'll certainly comply.