So, Joelle gave me a writing assignment a long time ago...
... and I'm finally doing it. Just a note: this is about the Northwest as a place. It should go without saying that what I miss most from home are my friends and family.
Three things I miss about the Northwest U.S.:
I miss the water. I miss the broad, long stretches of light it reflects. The way it covers amazing distances and pulls my eyes out to where my body wishes it could fly. I miss the sound of it. I used to go down to the bay in Bellingham when I felt too mean or depressed and I'd sit on a rock and just listen to the meeting of sea and land. I miss the salt in the air that I never noticed because I'd grown up with it in my nose. I miss the variety and the way it just existed all around as this massive, tangled presence.
I miss the mountains. I didn't actually go to them very often, but they existed as a benign reality. In Olympia, a common statement was, "Mt. Rainier's out today". If the sky was clear, then the peak seemed to jump distances and practically float just above the horizon. Even the ranges, which I rarely saw, are missed. I knew they were there and they bounded the territories I called home. They sheltered us and felt like protection, like being held.
I miss the culture. There is something unique to the Northwest, a certain degree of relaxation. I know it can get annoying at times and that some people carry it too far. Yet, I like that I can take a ferry out to an island and stay in a cabin on an old hippy commune. I adore that our regional cuisine is earthy and fairly simple. Farmer's markets, buskers, zines, greeners, the smell of coffee, arts festivals, tramping through forests in a perpetual state of twilight, camping by lakes, cursing the ever-present seagulls (and holding up french fries for them outside of Seattle's Ivar's), second hand clothing stores everywhere, polarfleece, food co-ops, salmon, political activism... and the dozens of other things that mix together to make up where I'm from. Culture is pretty hard to define, but it gets into your center and sort of sticks there.
So, there. I miss the Northwest. Sometimes I miss it a lot and sometimes I hardly notice. I'm pretty confident that I'll settle back there someday, but for now I'm happy to visit once or twice a year and be grateful that I'm from such an amazing place.
Three things I miss about the Northwest U.S.:
I miss the water. I miss the broad, long stretches of light it reflects. The way it covers amazing distances and pulls my eyes out to where my body wishes it could fly. I miss the sound of it. I used to go down to the bay in Bellingham when I felt too mean or depressed and I'd sit on a rock and just listen to the meeting of sea and land. I miss the salt in the air that I never noticed because I'd grown up with it in my nose. I miss the variety and the way it just existed all around as this massive, tangled presence.
I miss the mountains. I didn't actually go to them very often, but they existed as a benign reality. In Olympia, a common statement was, "Mt. Rainier's out today". If the sky was clear, then the peak seemed to jump distances and practically float just above the horizon. Even the ranges, which I rarely saw, are missed. I knew they were there and they bounded the territories I called home. They sheltered us and felt like protection, like being held.
I miss the culture. There is something unique to the Northwest, a certain degree of relaxation. I know it can get annoying at times and that some people carry it too far. Yet, I like that I can take a ferry out to an island and stay in a cabin on an old hippy commune. I adore that our regional cuisine is earthy and fairly simple. Farmer's markets, buskers, zines, greeners, the smell of coffee, arts festivals, tramping through forests in a perpetual state of twilight, camping by lakes, cursing the ever-present seagulls (and holding up french fries for them outside of Seattle's Ivar's), second hand clothing stores everywhere, polarfleece, food co-ops, salmon, political activism... and the dozens of other things that mix together to make up where I'm from. Culture is pretty hard to define, but it gets into your center and sort of sticks there.
So, there. I miss the Northwest. Sometimes I miss it a lot and sometimes I hardly notice. I'm pretty confident that I'll settle back there someday, but for now I'm happy to visit once or twice a year and be grateful that I'm from such an amazing place.