By Anjelica Michael

1. When people call it NoVA, you don’t think of the area first, but the community college.
2. The idea of the Silver Line makes you more frustrated than excited.
3. When you hear “War of the Roses” you think about catching cheaters, not Shakespeare.
4. Sonic commercials make you sad, hungry, and consider making the 60-mile road trip.
5. When you hear SOL, you think of No. 2 pencils and your longest days of elementary school.
6. No matter how close property is to a major road, you know someone will build a house on it.
7. You can spot an outsider immediately when you hear them say “subway” and they aren’t talking about $5 footlongs.
8. Hearing a helicopter overhead doesn’t even cause you to look up.
9. Two high schools are in close range to your house and your kids go to a third.
10. You have accidentally driven into a government facility at least once.
11. You grudgingly take out of state relatives to D.C. even though you haven’t seen the monuments since your second grade field trip.
12. If you’re on vacation and somebody asks where you are from, you just say D.C.
13. You have waved at the fake guy on the back of the F.H. Furr truck.
14. You have used the terms Mactown, Cashburn, Fredvegas and Hoodbridge at least once.