Since we came back from our epic New England/Canada road trip, we’ve turned our lives upside down in a pretty amazing way. During that trip, I was interviewing for a job with Rotary International in Chicago. It was pretty sudden; I applied at 10 pm on a Tuesday after our Rotary meeting, and had a phone interview scheduled about 12 hours later. It felt like the universe was actually shoving me in this direction – three weeks or so after I applied, I was offered the job and started planning our move to the Windy City!
Long before the whole job/move craziness was even in the picture, we’d planned a trip to Seattle. My best friend and roommate from college, Siri, was getting married and had asked me to officiate the ceremony. When we booked our tickets months ago, it was a good reason to add on a few days and make a vacation out of the trip – which of course meant that we were out of town just days before the big move. It actually worked out for the best; we had everything packed before we left, and had time to catch our breaths and just enjoy the celebration and exploring a new city.
Even though it was hard not to think about our upcoming move to Chicago during the trip, we managed to have a wonderful time and relax a bit. We spent Friday in Port Orchard with Siri and Gordon, and got to spend time catching up and hanging out with their families and friends before the wedding. While searching through the list of officiant titles, we came across Universal Philosopher of Absolute Reality – I have no idea what religion/ideology it comes from, but I liked the idea of having knowledge of the makings of the universe, and so that’s what ended up on the license. The next morning, we caught the Southworth-Fauntleroy ferry and had the ceremony on the boat between Vashon Island and West Seattle. We even managed to coordinate with the captain to blow the ship’s horn at the end of the ceremony, which was awesome! The brunch reception was at Salty’s on Alki Beach, which had a crazy beautiful view of the Seattle skyline.
For the next few days, we explored different neighborhoods around Seattle and lounged around our AirBnB in West Seattle. It was a beautifully restored craftsman house, walking distance from the Puget Sound, with super friendly cats and chickens. I hadn’t realized how much I missed being close to a big body of water until we went to Seattle; we got out on the Potomac quite a bit over the summer, but it never really felt like we were escaping DC. When you’re looking over the sound, especially at sunset, it just feels like the world is at peace.
We’re still settling in to our new home in Chicago, but being so close to Lake Michigan gives me the same sense of peace as looking out over the sound. It’s only been a few days, but I have this gut feeling that we’re really going to love it here. I’m so glad we got to take some time before the start of so many big life changes to get out of our own heads, celebrate Siri and Gordon, and take advantage of some beautiful fall days in the Pacific Northwest.
The Uprooted Path 