Why I live in Washington

I’m here for the rain but not for the downpour. The pitter patter of rain on rooftops 155 days of the year. But not the hail, sleet, or snow. I’m here for the convenience but not for the bumper to bumper traffic. (Every evening from four to six.) Hiking along the sunlit paths on Mt. Rainier, a riot of color dotting the landscape all overcome by the sea of evergreen groves. Wandering the Bavarian architecture in a little town called Leavenworth, trying on hats that look akin to Dr. Seuss, and Big Foot, and maybe a little bit of both. Scuba diving among glowing nudibranchs and wolf eels (that look like they’ve just had a run in with a pole and lost to the pole) dawdling in the desolate depths of the Puget Sound.

I’m here for the people. Walking around without umbrellas, exuberantly happy in the outdoors. The crowds in Seattle center every day of the week and the people on bikes sidling past the Sounder train. (A woman in a blue hijab hugs a homeless man on the corner of 5th avenue - people in cocktail dresses standing outside the theater look onwards.)

I’m here because of the free-thinkers. A blue state that made gay rights equal rights three years before our country caught up with us. A voracious, vivacious, vanguard of change. I’m here for renewable energy. Persistently producing a plethora of energy- hydroelectricity, where do you want to go today?

Microsoft, Starbucks, Pike Place Market. I’m here for the businesses, the startups that run the world sitting beside art booths and musicians and people throwing fish.

I’m here for Seattle but not the fame it draws. Macklemore, Sir Mix-a-Lot, 10 Things I Hate About You. Famous characters flock here, and come to die. George O’Malley, Derek Shepherd, Lexie Grey, Mark Sloan. (Robert Pattinson’s career.)

Fifty shades of grey outside my window, a world of evening shadow, oxford blue, black smoke, and thunder sky moulding the clouds. I’m here because of the weather, a love of grey and blue and black. I’m here for the color. Dusk falling all around us, and the evergreen trees. Juniper, pine, moss, chartreuse. And in the fall a sea of reds and oranges and yellows.

I’m here because I love it here.

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