I'm Finally Here

I finally here. After years of waiting and waiting I finally find myself in Seattle Washington. To you it might not seem like such a momentous occasion, but I assure you it is. I have always loved Seattle. For as far back as I can remember Seattle has captured my imagination. I can remember sitting at my old house when I was 12 years old watching Travel Channel specials on Seattle with my mouth wide open. It was this same house that was within walking distance from the Westside Librairy where I checked out my first book on Seattle. For years Seattle has had the honorary title of “My favorite city I’ve never been too.” The wind off the bay chills me. The call of the seagulls haunts me. The space needle enchants me. I’m finally here.

If you know me well, you know I hate the heat. My idea of “good” weather is rain, fog, and cold. There is something romantic about overcast weather. Rain and Fog…they just say so much more than sunny weather. I know I risk overusing this word, but rain is also very mysterious. Add the weather with the many hills in Seattle and you are set!

The weather has had some definite effects on the population of this great city. We stayed with a local friend of Luke’s who explained that Seattle is a very melodramatic city full of semi-depressed self proclaimed writers who smoke cigarettes and drink a lot of espresso. He is definitly right about the espresso—as soon as we got into the greater Seattle area it seems like we saw nothing but Espresso stands. Just from the amount of places we saw, one could assume that people here drink coffee more than they eat food! Combine the obsession over coffee with the apparent city-wide nicoteene addiction, and you have a interesting human achievement—drive thru cigarette/espresso stands. Yeah… I’m serious.

Another reason I was attracted to this city is because it is a uniquely beautiful blend of both the urban and the natural. In so many places around the nation it is either or. In Los Angles and san Fransisco it was all urban—nothing but concrete jungles. In most of New Mexico and Arizona it was all natural—nothing but desert roads and canyons. Seattle is a city where you can have both/and: it is a large city built with a distintively natural element. Seattle is built around a series of sounds and inlets from the nearby Pacific Ocean. Downtown Seattle overlooks the famous and scenic Puget Sound where local Seattilites (yeah it’s a real word) sea kayack, parasail, and boat. This area is not just the ocean either. The great thing about the Northwest is the mountains and woods run all the way to the coast. There are literally dozens of state parks in the greater Seattle area that offer a refuge from the fastpaced city life in the from of hiking and camping.

I never really knew how I would get here. For the longest time I was holding out hope that I would get bumped on a flight and get a free ticket to anywhere in the US—next stop Seattle! People always have a tendency to doubt your dreams, and so they would ask, “Matthew how do you think you are gonna get ALL the way over there?” Well this post is dedicated to all you doubters out there—I got here didn’t I? I never doubted that I would actually get to Seattle. It was never a matter of if, it was a matter of when. I guess this is the mindset that I want to keep for all my dreams. See, here is the thing. Lots of times when I tell people about my plans for travel or mission trips, people (usually older than me) will get this smile and slightly condescending voice and say something along the line of: “Well that’s just great Matthew! Be sure to get out all your fun and wanderlust before you get a “real life” and settle down.” I know, don’t worry—I never take this as real advice. If I even try to explain that I might not want the “average life,” these sort of people just smile and say something like “Well, that’s cute.”

Many people forfitt their dreams and plans somewhere along the road. I myself have seen the wild imaginitive eyes of some of my peers transformed into practical, boring ones—choked to death by the suffocating grasp of suburbia. People give up what they alsways wanted—maybe that is why so many parents live vicariously through their children. This is an appropriate time to mention that my parents have always been sone of my biggest supports and encouragers in every phase of my life so far. Everything I have done, whether it was a trip to the far reaches of the Peruvian Jungle, or trying to write a book, my parents have been write there telling me I can do it. I can never express how much that means to me and how much I love them for it.

I was looking back on my journal and I think this entry best describes my feelings:

I refuse to live by the rules of this fallen society. I will live out the goals and desires that Christ has placed in my heart—and have a good doing it! We have resorted to living out our dreams and visions through the medium of books and movies—its easier and more comfortable. I refuse to live a life of regrets because I let man’s obstacles get in my way. I will see the world and and worship with the saints. I will live a life of adventure! I will finish a book! I will get the most out of life and no one can stop me! AMEN! -- 1/29/07

Dreams are best experienced when they are fulfilled. My advice to everyone is live life, see the world, and make a difference! It feels good to finally do something I have always wanted to. So go…experience…travel…live…love…minister…be adventurous…get lost. It’s worth it.