The Spark

I believe October 25, 2013 marks Day One.  That is the day we actually said 'let's move forward'.  As mentioned in my prior post, we are leaving the PNW.  I still love the PNW, this is the second time I have lived up here.  I lived in Eugene, Oregon in the early 80's and have only good memories from that time.  The spark that brought us to the top of the US just below the Canadian border in 2005 is two-fold. 

 

The first spark was Summer of 2002, the company I then worked for had to relinquish a handful of accounts as the large ownership was required to get providers who supplied services nationally (not regionally as we were) so after the transition, it was time to take a vacation as I still had other accounts but no new ones yet.  I took two weeks off - I only ever did that one other time in my entire professional career.  We did a road trip, DH and I, and traveled from the Bay Area all the way up to Eugene, Oregon.  We had no reservations, we winged it.  A cabin here and a motel there.   We drove until we wanted to stop, we sought out waterways to play with our blow up raft, we stopped at off-the-wall cafes and diners, we had provisions for munching and a bottle of rum for cocktails every evening usually at some waterfront.  

 

The most memorable was outside Eugene, Oregon in this gorgeous cabin/house on the Willamette.  It was magical.  The local restaurant was connected by ownership to the cabin rental but was closed for table service yet they could put together a pizza if we desired.  That wasn't the magic.  We sat on the deck overlooking the Willamette having our dinner and when I say overlook, it was over and you could look and feel the moisture on your face.  As we dined, a fly fishing boat bobbed and weaved down the river with the much older gentleman rowing and presumably his equally aged wife standing and fly fishing.  My eyes well up and I get a chill of delight when I recall the feeling of that moment - that moment was a huge gift.  I can still be present in that moment.  This spot was the highlight of the trip and the highest point north we traveled on that road trip.  The tranquility of the wooded scenery really stuck with us.  So much of that trip did.

 

 

 

The second spark was in the Summer of 2005 where I had been with a new company since 2003.  The work situation is part of the story of why but I am going to choose to not write about it at this time.  The spark came from having a meeting with a vendor to procure something needed for my industry, she is slightly older than I and we got along quite well.  Our relationship was business with a fondness for each other's maturity and humor.  We didn't socialize outside the work environment but we were comfortable together.  We were meeting offsite as it was most convenient.  While sitting in the conference room, her future story came spilling out - she and her husband bought land in Sequim, Washington, were selling the business and moving North.  She had not even told her employees yet.  DH and I spoke in the past about possibly living overseas for a year or two - pack it up and just try it.  That was a dream way back in the 90's to do this in the future.  Well 9/11 happened and Americans are less welcomed so we shelved that dream for the time being.  As soon as the meeting finished I started researching Sequim and all of upper WA state.  I went home and told DH about the big idea and within a month or so we had a vacation up in Washington to look around.  We hit Sequim first but we quickly (and I mean quickly) counted that off the list.  We got to the mainland, up to the tippity top of the state and found what we felt was home. 

 

We decided to change our lives, our decision appeared to be rather abrupt to some in our lives but we had been carrying this dream for some time.  We wanted to live somewhere else and to live somewhat differently.  I read a quote recently that struck a chord as to why we wanted to leave the Bay Area - we wanted to be elsewhere, somewhere that excess is not so revered.  I gave a month's notice and told my employer and the industry I work in that I was going to step back.   The short story is we packed up, gave away a lot of possessions, sold our home and hit the road all within a two month period. 

 

Well, it has now been eight years and I say it is time for sustained sunshine.  There are many more reasons that make the decision a right one but sustained sunshine and warmth are the primary ones. 

 

This past weekend, which I will call Day Two and Three were spent (in part) making a list of what will be sold and what will be kept, placing a few preliminary ads on Craigslist to get the ball rolling.  We also took a long walk through the city park to the nearby lake, bought sandwiches and had a picnic lunch in the sun until the wind picked up.  The colors right now are stunning, just stunning.  Last night we had a  wind storm (one of many to come in November) and my only thought was 'this will be the last PNW windstorm season for us'.