In Love with Seattle, Part 1

This is a love story

Not the one with my husband (though that is a really good story that I will post at length about, I'm sure).  It's about my love affair with Seattle.

My father, commonly known as "The Captain," served in the Navy for 30 years.  We moved about a dozen times throughout the U.S., and internationally.  Having a tight-knit family with three siblings helped, but being an introverted kid did not.  No matter where we were, or where we were going, I dug in my heels when we had to leave.  I didn't want to make new friends, start a new school, get used to a new place.  I wanted a home.  Home in a literal "where" sense.  Somewhere I was "from."  So when we moved from Nebraska after my 8th grade year, I wasn't too pleased about relocating to Seattle, even though most kids would have been amped to go from this...

To this...

Still, I was miserable, in my egocentric adolescent way ("no one understands me, I'll never be happy again" etc etc.). 

We were driving cross-country for the move.  The Captain was driving and Mama and my siblings were all asleep when I woke up to this view...

Misty evergreen forest, cloud-capped black mountains, winding our way through a damp, quiet freeway.  Crows and seagulls.  Silver clouded sky.  It was love at first sight.  

I had never been so overwhelmed by the beauty of a place before.  I felt in my 13-year-old bones that this is where I belonged.  Belonging!  

And then I started high school and met the people around me, and that only confirmed what the forests and mountains already told me, which is that I fit in here.  Weirdos!  Weirdos everywhere!  And weirdos had friends!  NICE friends!  

I knew then, and I know now (about 15 years later) that people who couldn't find their home in other places can find a home here.  

The Captain had to relocate to New York City after only about 9 months of living in Seattle, so we left our little house in the quiet, mossy neighborhood for the Big City.  But the moment I had a chance to choose where I could live, I chose Seattle.  None of the students in my massive graduating class of 2004 left the New York tri-state area.  Except for me.  I had a home to go back to.

I've lived here about 10 years now.  The Captain and Mama have settled in Colorado for now (arguably equal to the Pacific Northwest in scenic beauty and weirdos).  StewDrew (brother 1) is here with me, NedJake (brother 2) joined the Navy himself, and Little B (one and only baby sister) is in Colorado now, but has plans of her own to PNW it up!  I met my husband here.  He grew up here on Vashon Island - it doesn't get more northwest than there.  I met the best group of women here (the soon-to-be-famous SMASH CLUB).  And I am me here.  Having lived in many places, I think I can say with supreme authority that this is the best place in the world.

Love story to be continued...