From JuJu with Love

When I graduated from the University of Michigan and moved to Washington DC, I thought I was just looking for a job. But what I found was so much more.

In a city known for being transient — where people arrive for a chapter and then move on — these people became my family for a decade while I lived there.

That didn’t happen by accident.

The partners at the firm wanted it to be that way. They created a culture where we weren’t just colleagues who shared office space — we shared our lives. There were Halloween days when we all came to work in costume. Happy hours that felt less like networking and more like gathering with friends. Secretaries’ Day luncheons that were full of laughter and appreciation.

And on weekends? We chose to be together.

We went away on ski trips and beach trips. We drove to New York City for weekends that blurred the line between coworkers and chosen family. In the summers, we water-skied on the Potomac River on Wednesday nights — not because we had to, but because we wanted to.

I brought my friends Donna and Michelle home to stay at my mom’s house in Bloomfield Hills so they could see where I grew up.

I brought my friend Amy home one fall weekend, where she got to experience the Franklin Cider Mill, Michigan autumn weather, and time with my mom and grandparents — a glimpse into the world that shaped me.

Rick and Maria and Doug joined me for a ski weekend in Harbor Springs (my happy place) with my sister and brother-in-law and also a separate football weekend in Ann Arbor (my other happy place). I think Doug and I even went to a Pistons game with my parents at the height of the Bad Boys era.

That’s how close we were. Our lives didn’t stay neatly separated. They overlapped in the best possible way.

Years later, even though we’re scattered across the country, we’re still connected. Through Facebook, through shared memories — and more recently, through loss. We’ve lost two dear friends, and there’s a group chat where we show up for one another, share our grief, our love, and our memories, even from across the miles.

And lately, as I’ve been writing these stories, it’s brought all of those memories rushing back — along with the people who lived them with me.

Looking back, that decade in DC wasn’t just a professional chapter. It was a lesson in what’s possible when people choose community — when work becomes friendship, and friendship becomes family.

Some families are given.

Some are chosen.

And some are built, one shared moment at a time.

From JuJu, with love. 💙✈️