Why Seattle
I traveled to Seattle last week for the third time in a year. For the third time, I experienced stunning weather void of the oft spoken of rain. Clear skies revealed stunning views of the surrounding mountains and, after a full day of fun, blotches of reddened skin. It was magical.
Since my first visit last summer, I've told anyone who will listen that I am bound for Seattle. Each time, more or less, I've been asked "why?" Why Seattle, why so far away from your family and from the city you grew up around (New York)? I've been asked "why not?" to many more places, the locations that house the companies I've turned jobs down for and the ones where so many of my friends will be making their moves to after graduation.
New York is fast paced and vibrant and uninhibited. It is a challenge. A place to be conquered by all those who take it on. New York is brand name. To say you're moving to New York is to say you've achieved some level of success. Reached a final destination. The people who inhabit its minuscule apartments and sprawling boroughs want so desperately to be in New York and to be from New York. They demand recognition for being from New York despite the many circumstances and towns that led them there. It takes a New Yorker to know one.
Acting as a tour guide for my mother — a product of Brooklyn, NY who had herself been no further than Chicago to date — I showed her why Seattle in a way no angsty phone conversation could. I answered why Seattle.
In many of those same ways, Seattle is vibrant and uninhibited. It is disciplined and balanced. Seattle is knowing no one. For me, Seattle is somewhere in T.J. Maxx, the strikes-gold purchase that you find tucked away behind a shelf. To stumble upon Seattle is to achieve a wild sense of satisfaction. It is asking another person where he or she is from and knowing that their residence here was a product of discovery. A journey with an unsuspecting destination. A moment of clarity.
The city itself embodies that very commonality. Seattle marries land and water in the same way it mixes work with pleasure. It is surrounded by three different majestic bodies of water that dare to defy the word "city," tucked below the watchful eye of snowcapped mountains. Cranes that swing below Space Needle, quirky as it is inspiring, are a constant reminder that the city is a hub of innovation and expansion. But 20 minutes by ferry, with Mount Rainier projecting humility upon those who stare in awe and the skyline becoming ever distant, you can be transported into tranquility. Yachts and sailboats dormant on still water near undisturbed beaches. Stores that line quaint streets and signs that say "wine tasting."
Seattle is the woman who invites you inside the shop. She tells you about the grapes grown on this very island, about the owner of the winery who is originally from New Jersey, just a few miles outside of Manhattan.
That's why Seattle.
