Seattle – to move or not to move, that is the question.

I flew to Seattle last week for a five-day visit.  First and foremost, I wanted to see and spend some time with my daughter, Jen, my son-in-law, Roth, and my grandson, Rowan.  They have lived there now for (I hope this is right) 7 years.  It appears they will be there at least another seven or so.  They like Seattle and all that it has to offer a young, growing family.

I also looked forward to being in Seattle itself.  I really like Seattle as well. Besides wanting to move there for radio jobs almost 30 years ago (I applied many times with no bites), the thought of living there now is even more attractive.  The actual specter of moving, not so much.

So I have been asking myself why I would like to move there.  Of course, the obvious is being in much closer proximity to my first born child, her husband, their first born child, and soon to be second born (code name:  Snickerdoodle…sorry, Jen, it just sounded cute) arriving in April.  If it wasn’t for them in residence in Seattle, I most likely would not consider a move like that despite my infatuation with the Emerald City.  At my age, there is no attraction regarding job opportunities as I consider myself, at the least, semi-retired and done with climbing any ladder for a work related motivator. For me, I haven’t decided if the Seattle Pros outweigh the Cons.  Let’s get the Cons out of the way first.  The weather –  Eeeegad!  What an enigma?  Need I remind myself how much it rains there and Loretta’s aversion to living full time in a rain-soaked environment?  I love the wet stuff and have no problem existing inside for months at a time.  However, Loretta has also seemed to arrived at a time in her life where she is quite sick of the stifling heat we get here in Modesto a good six months of the year.  It is noteworthy to mention at this point that they have experienced (and still are) a record run of rainlessness this year.  This on the heels of a couple of the wettest years in a while.  It was sunny and mild while I was there.

The next Con: traffic.  Yeah, not great.  Let’s face it, Seattle is a big city although quite compact compared to an L.A. or San Francisco.  The downtown area proper is ringed with 10-lane highways that feed cars filled with one person each from the outlying areas to the north, south, and east.  West is water – Puget Sound, where ferries handle most of the commuters.

The actual move itself – I’m not convinced I’m up for that physically. And, finding a place to live and part time jobs seems a bit overwhelming at times.  Plus, the cost of living in Seattle may be prohibitive for us at this point in our lives.  It ain’t cheap.

If it sounds like I’m trying to talk myself out of a move to Seattle…not so.  I’m just being my (now) usual pragmatic self compared to years ago when I was a tad more impetuous in nature.

The Pros of becoming a Seattleite should be obvious, but I will list a few anyway.  The culture of this town is so distanced from where we are now, it’s hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t lived, visited, or read about Seattle.  The preponderance of fine eateries, museums, the arts, theater, concerts, pro-sports (although I am not a sports fan of any sort), the scenic beauty of the surrounding area, the availability of great seafood, year round farmer’s markets, the attitude of sustainability, the lakes, boats, and rivers, the clean, fresh, northwest air, the overall quality of life, the photo opps, more Mini-Coopers than pickup trucks, readily-available pork belly, and living near Jen, Roth, and Rowan just to name a few Pros that are important to yours truly.

My grandson, Rowan, is becoming quite the active, precocious, chatterbox.  At 3 1/2, he seems much older.  We had opportunities to play ball, attempt to “learn” him solitaire on my iPad, and just hang out and talk.  Oh yes, he talks!  His black and white statements about his environment and things in general are very provocative and intuitive to say the least.  Did I tell you how well he plays on his own.  Dirt is one of his favorite mediums for expression at this point.  Finding a “good stick” at the park provided him what seemed like hours of adventure.  Of course, attempting to drag him out of his play world at times was a challenge.  But he responds well to simple bribery.  I hope he remembers his visits with Grandpa Skip as I am missing him already.

Speaking of visits, this may well be what the future holds for us.  In lieu of moving there, we will at least plan more trips to Seattle.  We would all like to go to Vancouver, Canada, a mere 150 miles or so north.  Portland is 170 miles south.  Jen and I talked about Disneyland in about a year, Rowan should be old enough to appreciate it by then.  And, Jen’s baby will be a few months old and relatively easier to care for on a sojourn like to The Happiest Place on Earth.  They plan a Christmas trip to our area this year. When I go back to work in a couple weeks, I have restricted my schedule availability to part time, allowing more opportunities for travel.

No moving decisions or timelines have been set down yet.  It is certainly not an impossibility at some point.  I had a great time there.  I got to cook a couple of meals for them and dine out at a few Seattle restaurants.  Spending a few hours on my own at Pike Place got it out of my system for a while!  They will be moving to a larger,  new (old) house closer to the city this week and I got to see it in person.  It’s very quaint and in a rustic, older neighborhood near parks and shopping…and a bit closer to where they work.

In the meantime, Jen and I remain close like that line from the movie E.T., “I’ll always be right here”.

Check out some recent Seattle photos here.