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Friday |
Been here since October 8 and it's starting to sink in that this is really where we live now. Seattle was home for so long it always seemed a given that despite the distance and length of our travels we'd always end up back there. Now I'm not so sure and it's making me a little nostalgic. We haven't had a bad day since we got here--knock wood--but as I sway in a breeze-rocked hammock overlooking the rugged SE Maui coastline I reminisce about the 15-year run we had in Fremont. There were rough spots, to be sure--heartbreak, lean times, friendshipwrecks--but the community of creatives, craftspeople, and do-gooders we joined forces with made 1998-2013 the most edifying and satisfying period of my life. I don't want to name individuals for fear of leaving some VIP out, so in a somewhat vague way please allow me to share Eight Things I Loved and/or Miss About Seattle: 1) Rocking out every Sunday with 4Shadows. Spontaneous creativity with kindred spirits is always a peak experience. 2) Hanging out at Indian Summer. Sidewalk culture, with its interplay of friends, neighbors, and strangers, is the quintessence of city living. 3) Having friends over for movie night, parties, crafting, whatever. Seattle is home to some of the finest people I know and it was always a joy to share our home with them. 4) Dropping in on neighbors unannounced or answering knock of unexpected guests. The enchanted hillside pocket where we lived was a bit anachronistic like that. 5) Friday nights at Canoe Social Club. Hangovers be damned, you never knew who or how many would show up but the conversations were always deep, diverse, and engaging. 6) Spinning 45s as DJ Port-a-Party--most of all those 10-hour marathon sessions at Punk Rock Flea Market. Music brings out the best in people. 7) Bicycling, especially those local grocery runs on my clunky Worksman cruiser with its oversize wire basket or rallying with buddies to the beach. 8) The music scene. Sad to say, the number of unpretentious venues supportive of local and/or oddball acts keeps dwindling, but here's to Blue Moon, Josephine, Rendezvous and the few remaining for carrying the torch. (RIP, Funhouse. Better yet, come back from the dead.) I'm grateful for all this and more. The measure of a city is its people. Thank you, friends! |
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