The Secret

I suck at secrets. I write about my life on the Internet, so keeping stuff to myself is really hard. But I've been holding onto a big secret for an insufferably long time.

It started as a whisper a long time ago. Years in fact. Back in 2011 when I made a work trip to a new city and had a blast. The whisper was there - home was not just a place, it was a feeling you had to embrace.

Original Starbucks, 2011

As a new runner, I didn't go far in Seattle, but I enjoyed the mild climate and all the food, drinks and sights to see.

Pre-run selfie, 2011

Then last fall, my wanderlust was in high gear and the whisper got louder. The trip Mandy and I took to the Pacific North West was the vacation of a lifetime. Something about that trip turned the tides for me.

I've always known I was not made to be a Midwestern girl. Snow makes me sad, traffic makes me mad. I was meant to drink craft beers, run year round, fall asleep to the sound of rain and embrace gray skies and misty mornings with French pressed coffee, fabulous-looking boots and commuting via bike.

I was made for Seattle.

The whisper became firmer and clearer. I've sold most of my possessions, wrapped up loose ends and set my fears aside. All the details shall soon be revealed, but starting this summer, I'm calling Jet City home. We spent the weekend walking the neighborhoods and weighing the pros and cons of apartments, after a 20-mile run in my new hometown confirmed what the whisper suggested all along: we don't have to flourish where we are planted. We will thrive where we lie roots, and this is where it begins.

Welcome to my next adventure. Hold onto your hats, it's going to be wild.