Well, here I am... back in Spokane. And you know what? I couldn't be happier.
(Okay, realistically speaking, I could be happier... but somehow I don't think winning the lottery and spending the rest of my life traveling around the world is going to be my reality this Life time around, so for now I'll be happy where I'm at.)
It's a funny thing... when I left Spokane at the age of 20 (almost a dozen years ago), I swore to the heavens and anyone who would listen that I was never coming back. Like, never ever ever ever. And I believed it, right down to the very depths of my soul, I believed it. Of course, at that time I also believed that I would never settle down, I would NEVER have children, and I would never have the desire to commit to something so big and permanent as buying a house. A Lifelong Renter - that's what I was going to be!
Anyway... at 20 years old I had fallen in love and left my home town in the rear view mirror. I moved to Georgia where I had some adventures and got my heart broken. I moved to Seattle where I had LOTS of adventures and broke a few hearts. I married, divorced, moved to Kingston, married again and had two children. And that's when everything changed.
When I was a kid, Spokane wasn't that bad of a place to live, although for me it felt akin to torture. The worst part of it all was the neighborhood that I grew up in. Poor and nappy, about a block outside of the Hillyard neighborhood, that neighborhood and all of it's lack of charm were the basis for my experience of Spokane as a whole. (Of course, if one was to drive down my old street today, the home I grew up in would seem high-falootin' by comparison, which is more sad and depressing than I care to admit to myself.) I was so eager to get out of this town, and so very, very pleased when that desire became manifest. I left this place and never looked back, never doubted my decisions, and never regretted anything I experienced in the world at large.
After having children my perception of the city of grew up in... changed. Suddenly living in Kingston, on the outskirts of everything (or so it seemed to me) was crippling to my mental, physical and emotional well-being. I was staying at home all day with little girls that I couldn't take outside most of the time because everything was wet and covered in mildew. I couldn't even do something as simple as walk to the store, because the nearest store was 3 miles away and we lived on an arterial and every turn was a blind corner. Just going for a walk in the neighborhood with my kids in the stroller filled me with so much fear and dread of being struck by a vehicle that eventually it wasn't worth the anxiety to try. And then of course there was the ever-increasing feeling of isolation. My closest friend was and hour and a half drive away, and the majority of my family lived in Spokane. The few rogue family members that lived in Seattle were far enough away and busy enough that us getting together was a once-in-a-blue-moon kind of thing. Suddenly I found myself, my husband and my kids were an island, all by ourselves in the great, big ocean of life. I began missing my family in Spokane more and more, and I realized one day that Steve and I had no real support group where we were. Everybody needs help sometimes, even if it's just somebody watching your kids for an hour while you go get your teeth cleaned. We had nothing like that in Kingston, whereas here in Spokane it's nigh in abundance.
Long story short (I know, too late), moving back to Spokane has been the best decision for myself and my family. Steve loves it here, which pleases me to no end, and the girls couldn't be happier. Since we moved into our new home in our new city the girls have experience sunshine and warm/hot temperatures every day, they can ride their little bikes and scooters in front of our house (located in the center of a 3 home cul-de-sac) without fear of being mowed down by some careless driver racing to make the next ferry boat, and they finally have friends everywhere they look. There are 2 little girls right next door, their cousins live less than a mile from us, there are kids of various ages all over the neighborhood... it's Utopia here for M1 & M2. And all of us - Steve, me, M1 & M2 - love, love LOVE our new house. It's SO much bigger than our old house, and it's fun and quirky and has a front and back yard to die for. It's wonderful here, and I am so glad that I have grown enough over the years to let my old Spokane prejudices fall by the wayside. And I'm equally glad that, in that time, Spokane managed to grow and change enough in itself to be habitable to me once again. I guess you could say that, although it took more than a decade of separation, Spokane and I have finally matured enough to meet in the middle and maybe... just maybe... live happily ever after.
Lovely to read. Your best post ever.
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