It’s already started; my Facebook and Instagram feeds are quickly filling with vacation photos of smiling friends and family relaxing on sunny beaches and atop verdant mountain retreats. Summer is officially here, and this week Washingtonians were forced to reckon with it, as perfect temperatures gave way to blistering heat and we were all rudely reminded that we live in a swamp, a hardship post. No one in his right mind would turn down a day, a week, a month away from here given the choice. The summer weather is so predictably miserable that by late July Congress can’t bear it any longer, and they all pack up and head home for a month. Those who have the means follow suit, and greater-Washington becomes a ghost town until we hear school bells.

For the first time in many summers our family has no vacation plans. We recently sold our home in the suburbs and we’re all excited to move into a new house, still under construction, in the heart of Old Town Alexandria. Our move-in date has slipped from May to June to July (I am assured we will be able to take up residence *some time* this summer). With so much up in the air, we decided to hold off on travel. Instead, I’ve devoted every free moment to painstakingly packing up our home of eight years.