If you’d like to listen to me read this vs. actually reading it, play this video.
I’ve had the Pacific Northwest on my brain every day for the past month, at least. Living in the desert has me thinking more and more of the places with trees and water.
My favorite band is playing in Portland, Oregon on the first Wednesday in November so I bought a ticket to the show. I then found myself looking at plane tickets and rental cars, booking each one of those as well. I haven’t requested the days off of work yet, but I have a nonrefundable rental car so I’m going.
I will fly in to Portland in the early afternoon before the show and then go see some music and then I’ll vanish from the city for a while. I love the food, the beer, and the people I know in Portland, but I don’t usually fly to the PNW to see people… I fly there to go hide out in the trees.
I plan to visit family for holidays this year, so i figure this could be my last quick long weekend out west for the year. It’s proving to be more difficult to take a “quick” weekend to Seattle or Portland from here in New Mexico versus when I lived in DFW. I used to grab a Friday evening flight and then catch a Sunday night/Monday morning flight so I had a full two days and didn’t miss any work.
I hope to be back near a major airport or closer to nature sooner than later. I’m not far, here, but I’d like to be even closer as in living among it or within an hours drive of some treelined water.
Ever since first visiting the Pacific Northwest in 2008, I’ve been hooked. I felt home, I felt safe, and I vowed to live there someday. Now, the world is ending and I’m wondering if I should make that someday more sooner than later.
Life has me torn right now. I have family who I’d love to be close to, but I have dreams of living in the cool, green woods of the northwest. If I moved to to a city near Seattle or Portland, I could easily fly back to Detroit like I did when I lived in Dallas/Fort Worth. It would be a bit more difficult to drive there, but it would be living the dream. If I moved back to Michigan, or nearby, I would still have great trees and water to play around in and be close to family and friends whom I miss dearly.
I realize the privilege I have even debating this. If I find a remote job, I could visit my family for weeks at a time without even using PTO. I could easily navigate between the two and still live both dreams. I’m often caught in a daydream. I want the ease and convenience of living near family, but I want the adventure of living somewhere I have only visited. I’ve got some time to figure this out, thankfully.
*the future is all hypothetical, if anyone from work reads this*
