Tomorrow we are pulling up stakes and beginning our journey in earnest, saying goodbye to Seattle Washington and hello to the many roads and trails of the United States. Make no mistake, we will return, already we plan to be back in Seattle twice next year as we journey to Alaska and back, but this moment is the official uprooting and beginning of our travels.
I was born in Alaska and lied many years in Anchorage but Seattle is where I chose to make my home. It is a great city with a mix of modernity and a love for arts and culture mixed with a strong streak of individualism and rebellion from the status quot. Here I have had success in my career, success in love, and success in life overall. I came partly for the geek and gamer culture which to my delight has grown in my time here from a small sub-culture to a world spanning enterprise. Seattle companies and luminaries have played an important part in that and I would say that in turn springs from the Seattle spirit which openly embraces fantasy and imagination.
One think I will miss daily is the food. Seattle has some of the best food in the world these days. In our other travels to date we are often disappointing when eating out with restaurants where seemingly habit and/or convinced has trumped making good tasting food. There are other great food cities to be sure but so many places I go I find my time spent eating out is often very disappointing. We do hope to enjoy the local cooking wherever we go, but I suspect I will long for my Seattle favorites.
Another of the reasons I fell in love with the city is found in its nickname: “The Emerald City.” Seattle is heavy with trees, both disingenuous and evergreen. When you fly over Seattle or look at google maps from the air you see a carpet of green and many of the cities streets in spring and summer are gorgeous tree lined lanes. Rare is the lawn that is not dotted with trees and near every sidewalk has plantings. They are not only good for the air but good for the soul. Other cities often feel like dismal concrete wastelands by comparison.
Most of all of course I will miss my many friends, especially those I see day to day. I’m not fond of elaborate goodbye’s because for me once a friend always a friend by my reckoning. None the less, the company of those I share time with regularly will certainly be missed very much. I’ve always been something of an independent minded person, but I very much care for the entanglements of my life with others. I always feel permanently enriched by the people I meet and interact with and I hope the feeling is mutual. I like to think we are entangled at the quantum level and that time and distance cannot break that bond.
While we leave Seattle behind, and truly have no one place to call home now, the spirit of the city and the people are part of mine.