On Sundays, DCist publishes opinion pieces about life in D.C. The views expressed below are solely those of the author.

It wasn’t until I started working in the city that I really knew anything about the city. I’ve lived in the suburbs of D.C. for a considerable chunk of my life and had always seen D.C. recreationally. My daily life happened in the god forsaken outer corners of Tyson’s Corner, McLean, Reston and Herndon. Fun happened along 14th Street or at Annie’s on P Street on a Sunday morning. Back then the city was like a casual friend who I only ran into at parties.

About three years ago, I took my first job in the city, working at a lobbying firm on the Hill. I worked on C Street South East, about two blocks away from the Capitol South Metro station, and Mr. Rogers himself couldn’t have laid out a better neighborhood for me. A year and a half of working around Capitol South gave me more of a sense of community and connectedness then I’ve ever gotten from an entire adolescence spent in the suburbs. The daily interaction with the people who lived and worked alongside me in that neighborhood offered me a look at the daily rhythm of the city, and all the quirky, interesting and friendly people it was filled with.

I’ve left that Capitol Hill job and while I don’t miss the work or the industry, I miss that neighborhood and the cast of characters that populated it. There was the Capitol Police officer who directed traffic outside the station every morning and didn’t hesitate to ticket jaywalkers. (For those of you that have dared cross against the light on his watch, you know who I’m talking about.) And Mr. Chubbs, whose cab was parked across the street from my building every morning. Most days we’d banter about the weather or what to eat for lunch. Even the homeless people became familiar faces who I developed more of a rapport with then most of my co-workers.