It all started when...

...I was a student.  It was 1975, and I was working for an unnamed US government agency, part-time, in order to pay tuition.  One thing led to another, and I got a well-paying job with a lobbyist and put off continuing with school.  Mistake.

I made the daily walk from Capital Hill to Foggy Bottom (yes, I did--Metro was just in its infancy then and the nearest stop from Union Station was at Farragut North--so I took the opportunity to walk.  Times were simpler then).

I'd walk down Constitution and veer off onto Pennsylvania, usually, to walk past one or the other side of the White House grounds.  Yes, you could do that then.  Vehicular traffic even flowed unbroken down Pennsylvania Avenue back then, which, given the state of air pollution in those days, left my sandal-ed feet covered in greasy soot every night.

Hari Krishna devotees would stand on the corner of 17th and Pennsylvania on certain days of the week, offering flowers which the unwary would accept and then be informed that they have to pay for (...a certain resemblance to European gypsies in that respect).  Down 17th and then over on G or F Streets, sometimes with a stop at a very cool pharmacy where I once bought a green floral umbrella. Avoiding a walk past a certain bar where I knew one of my oldest friends would be drinking the night away.

Into my little building at the corner of 20th and F, at the back on the first floor.  Lock up, cook dinner, and read or watch an ancient television that I had bought at the Salvation Army store near Dupont Circle.  Remember that store?  My tv got three or four channels.  Books were better.  Or sewing.  Except that I didn't like the old, downtown, messy fabric store that "everyone" seemed to recommend.  Woodward and Lothrup carried fabrics, up to that point.  I bought a jersey in an apricot print (sort of a typical 1970's floral---spaced out and purple-y and teal-y flowers on an apricot ground.)  I needed a dress to wear to a friend's wedding.  The buttons were those aurora ball buttons that La Mode used to carry, remember them?  I probably still have the leftovers on a card, somewhere.....