There’s an old joke in Seattle that goes like this…
“Who wrote the song, The Bluest Skies You’ve Ever Seen Are In Seattle?”
Answer: Helen Keller
Since I moved to Florida, I have been back to Seattle just once. It was for my daughter’s wedding, which was a little more than five years ago. Now, I am poised to wing my way back there this Saturday, for a nine day adventure into my past.
I didn’t intend to stay away so long. I guess none of us do. Somehow, life gets in the way of the best laid plans and time just slips away. Initially, the trip was to just see my mother, who’s not doing so well these days. I don’t know how long she will be around, but planning a trip afterwards for a funeral would seem silly to me. It’s far better to see the living, than mourn the dead.
I must say I am excited to come back home. The last time I was there, I still had a wife. She’s the one that convinced me to move down here, sending me little notes every day about why Florida was so great. I can’t really argue with the reasoning of these notes, many of which I still have. Even after seven years, I still love the rustle of the swaying palms and the 200+ days of sunshine. I find myself laughing as I bitch about the cold of winter when the temperature dips into the low 60s here and try to find the only sweater I still own. I remind myself that I could be fighting a freeze back home, and dreading a morning meeting as I made my way over black ice.
The only ice I have here comes out of the freezer. Ice, while not unknown in northern Florida, is virtually unknown where I live, and if I went 90 minutes south to the West Palm area, it is not even a distant memory.
Still, Florida is not where I had planned to end up. It is home, though, and I’ve gotten used to it. I can safely say that if my ex-whatever had lived in New York or Minnesota, I would have never traded the cold and rain of Seattle for these regions. She really lucked out that she happened to live in Florida, otherwise we would have never gotten together.
I came close to returning to Washington last year, when I took my crew of pirates to Oregon for five days. It was October, and the weather though brisk, was beautiful for three out of the five days. And as we all know, when the sun is out in the northwest, there is no prettier place to be on earth. I really enjoyed my Florida friends as they freaked out at one stunning vista after another as we made our way down the coast, then dodging back inland through the mountains. You can’t do that in Florida. Everything here is flat as a pancake, well, at least where I make my home.
When my divorce was finalized, I briefly thought of moving back to Seattle. My daughter really wanted me to. My son was up there as well and the 5 1/2 hour flights for him weren’t the best option when it came time to summer with dad. Ironically, he’s now in Virginia, a two-hour hop on a plane. If I had moved to Seattle, he’d be back to the long flights, the two of us largely trading places on our respective coasts.
I can’t say the thought never crosses my mind even still. I have a lot of friends here in Florida now. But I still have a lot of friends in Seattle, as well. And though we all make grandiose statements about coming to see one another, it’s taken me five years to make good on my promise.
In fact, I still have two travel shows on Seattle on my DVR. I got a little misty eyed as the show hosts visited all my favorite spots, and some new ones I never knew of. I will be watching them again, just before I leave, so I get a refresher course.
Such is life. So, I voyage on. I am very excited to be coming back. I already have a laundry list of things to do – a long, long lunch with a long lost friend, a road trip to Ocean Shores with some other dear friends, drinks with some of the people I should have known when I was younger and who renewed acquaintances via Facebook, and of course, visits with my mother and my daugther.
In between I plan to hit the Pike Place Market, go to West Seattle to the old Benbow Inn and the Shipwreck, which used to be TNT’s where I played off and on for 20 years, go on a wine tasting adventure in Woodinville, and do the Puyallup with my daughter so we can bring my mom all the things she loved most about the fair as a special birthday gift to her.
So much to do and really so little time. I know the world keeps spinning around and that time passes all too quickly, but I hope there’s enough of what I loved about Seattle still there, if not to call me back, then to make me realize that it will always be my real home.
Out on the Treasure Coast, thinking about good coffee on a brisk morning, watching the sun rise over the Cascades and wondering about the day ahead,
– Robb