Use what you have

Ever since my debut book came out, my learning curve has been steep and plentiful. But I haven’t been great at documenting the life epiphanies or industry knowledge as they pop up. This blog is part of my attempt to get better at that.

So here are a few things I learned from my trip to D.C. and Virginia.

Being a life-long learner keeps you young.

Aaron and I flew from Seattle to the Dulles airport, rented a car, and stopped by my aunt and uncle’s house before checking into our Airbnb. They’ve always been an inspiration to me in many ways, and this trip I was inspired by their life-long learner mentality.

For example, after my uncle retired, he turned his passion for history into Smithsonian lectures on cruise ships and at colleges like Cambridge, Georgetown, and George Washington Universities. Last year, my aunt explored her passion for art by taking painting classes, and this year her focus has been French films and practicing her French at local restaurants. Both of them are radiant, interesting, and thoughtful. I would love to be like them.

Use what you have.

The whole reason we traveled out there was actually Aaron’s pharmacy conference, but we got there a few days early to have time to explore D.C. together. This was Aaron’s first time and my second.

First, we stopped by the International Spy Museum which was cool, but a little less cool than I remembered (mainly due to the disorganized feeling of the information…jumps in time periods, etc.). But the spy gadgets through history are amazing and the women spy stories inspired me like:

The famous Josephine Baker was a French intelligence agent during WWII; she carried secret messages written in invisible ink across the Nazi guarded border.

During WWII, field agent Virginia Hall created a spy network, planned missions and ambushes, and was so wanted by the enemy that she had to escape through the Pyrenees mountains — the wanted posters called her “the limping lady” as she had an artificial leg.

Radio operator Noor Inayat Khan saved 30 allied airman by carrying a 30 lb suitcase radio around to maintain communications between London and occupied France in WWII.

One more and then I’ll stop myself. Did you know Julia Child was a spy during WWII? She was actually denied by the military due to her height of 6’2, so she joined the OSS instead (which was the first U.S. intelligence agency). While there, she helped make a shark repellent to make sure sharks wouldn’t accidentally trigger bombs.

You can find out more about these women here.

Photo credits: the International Spy Museum website

Clam chowder and deep rage can warm the soul.

After getting some clam chowder to warm us up in the cold wind, we toured the National Mall which felt simultaneously empowering and disheartening.

As I read the inscriptions about democracy and freedom, viewed the names of all those who have died to fight for freedom, and pondered the nation’s complicated history, I felt a deep sorrow. So much sacrifice. And look where we are now.

But I also felt a deep rage. An empowering rage.

I don’t want to passively watch our freedom — the freedom so many died for — erode due to greed, manipulation, and a thirst for power.

I want to be like the women spies who used whatever they had — brains, fame, sexuality, connection, creativity — to fight for freedom and help people. (Don’t worry, I will not be using my sexuality to fight for freedom haha.)

To me, it feels like we are in a war of stories. And I am a storyteller. Now what can I do?