Seattle (again)

I blame Elise.

I was talking to her Thursday evening at around 5. She was filling me in on all that had to be done over the weekend to move out of my old house, the Greenlake house. She knows I’m a compassionate person and totally used it against me. I mean, of course I wasn’t going to let her do it all by herself. Thirty minutes later I found myself staring at the “Confirm Purchase” button on Travelocity’s all-to-easy website totally freaking out. Given that I was home all by myself with no one to help me through the all out inner battle between Practical Laura and Adventurous Laura, you can probably guess which won out in the end.

After a sleepless night I found myself running to catch the 5:40 Metro to Rosslyn so I could catch the 5A bus to Dulles where I’d grab my flight that would put me in Seattle by 11am. I’ll leave out the details but it will suffice to say that it was a stressful morning. Not only was I scrambling and sweating to make it to the airport, there was the gnawing thought in the back of my mind that said our plane was going to get hijacked and my family wouldn’t know I was dead for like, a week and they’d probably be mad about that. Practical Laura was hadn’t been completely silenced either and mocked me with my eternal joblessness the entire flight.

Don’t worry. It only took about 10 seconds of screaming and giggling with Elise to forget every hesitation I had. We drove straight to TJ’s, grabbed sushi and headed to our favorite spot (picture below taken from my phone, it was that clear!). It’s at this spot we’ve sat and spit cherry seeds after a long day and talked about nothing, said goodbye, worked out our differences, cried about boys and now, add to the list, had the best homecoming ever. It was a perfect day in Seattle and at this point, I didn’t even remember that Practical Laura ever existed. Would you:


I love Seattle. I know it is my home. It is here that I feel the most alive. Maybe it’s the city. To me, it feels so full of things yet to be discovered, to fresh, so full of potential. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve become myself there, it’s part of who I’ve become. I think most of all, I think I love it for it’s familiarity, both the place and the people. Obviously, I don’t mind stepping into the unknown. I’ve learned more about myself and who I wanna be during my time in the DC unknown and that makes it completely worth it. But it’s also exhausting. Being around those who know you (and love you anyway) is truly life-giving for me.

The weekend was a mix of all my favorite things- adventure, good friends, timelessness, surprises, being outside, laughing, long meals, spontaneity, freedom and best of all, the certainty I (finally) feel about where I wanna be.

Now, I’m back in DC taking a huge, deep, cleansing breath of gratitude. My life is filled with such beauty. Beauty in life-long friendships, in my ever-supportive family. (My Mom said she was proud of me for going and not telling her. Ha!) Beauty in the broken and rocky path that has brought me to this day, beauty in the ways I see myself becoming who I want to be. Beauty in the unknown that lies before me yet. Yes, my life is beautiful in big and small ways. It’s all Grace. All of it..

I know this is kind of a sappy post and I’m sorry. I assure you that this weekend will lead to some great stories. I mean, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival happening on the Mall is themed Texas, Bhutan, and NASA. What? That alone will deserve a post of its own. Plus, another dear friend is coming into town in about an hour. I'm so happy.

Thanks for reading.
May you find some freedom and adventure in your day today.

Yours,
LC