not my first

my iowa fire fly was not my first. i encountered my first fire fly in northern virginia, if i recall correctly. i was 19 and working for some lobby group supposedly trying to save the world, feeling more like i was suckered into a facist environmentalist plot. but i learned a lot in the process. i was totally independent and that was cool, though independence meant many-a-night walking past the library of congress crying at 11 pm on the way to the metro. but the fire fly, i remember it. i was in quantico, virginia. i felt that sense of wonder. i still cried that night, i am sure, but for a moment, it was worth it. just for a bug.
DC was yet another one of the many random places i have lived. and iowa is just another on the list. i suppose it is not that random of a place. namibia was pretty random, until the evil brangelina ruined its untouched beauty and innocence and only increased confusion and misunderstanding about the place.
seriously, a lot of people (especially in my circle of friends) can "brag" about living in DC (though if you really have, you realize it is not as glamorous as it sounds, at least in my opinion), but who can say they have lived in IOWA? not many. i can only think of one person.
the thing is, a single event, a single person, a single place--one single thing can make it all worth it ultimately. this doesn't mean we should stay in these places. there was a cafe in bochum that i loved, but i could never have stayed there just for it. but the point is, we can get something out of everywhere, every time. we must approach life with this attitude.