Finally home

Sometimes I say things like this because I think I'm funny (and very modest), but the washer tried to eat my shirt this afternoon. No really! I had to pull the sucker out from under the agitator, I thought it was a goner for sure.

Welcome home to me!

After departing Hancock Airport at 6am EST this morning I arrived in Seattle about 10:30 local time. I love how traveling west saves you those three hours. I also love that I am more comfortable in this neighborhood than when I was in my own hometown, maybe its the convenience of being in the suburbs here, not the farm country of Upstate New York.

Or maybe it means I'm home.

I discovered somethings about myself in my three weeks in New York. For one, I drive faster, which doesn't sound like much probably, but to a 22-year old kid that once felt like he was a 45 year old father driving a minivan around town and following speed limits, it was a sweet realization.

I also realized I'm much more outspoken about my beliefs after spending 6 months in Seattle. I have always considered myself a liberal, but in the words of an old man I met here my first week, I've become a 'liberal' liberal. Really though, being here has just enhanced my positions on marijuana legalization (for), gay rights (pro) and some other usual hot topic issues. I found myself arguing with my own father this break about why gay marriage should be legal, and not that either of us came away with a different stance, but to feel like I could stand my ground on the issue and believe in what I was saying was a first.

Some friends come and go, and some last forever. The ones that last forever are the ones you can see after years of being apart and can pick up in conversations like you had been away only a few hours. I saw my old high school friends for a great but way too short reunion and reminisced about old Spanish teachers and skipping class, getting into (and out of) trouble. As hard as we try to push away certain parts of our pasts, it is refreshing to miss it. I love them all and thank them for creating the person I was then and am now.

And finally, not that this was news, but I realized that Seattle is my home. I love my family, I miss them dearly when I leave, and I miss my friends and glimpses of my old life, but the only reason I appreciate them so much is because of my time here. I have grown into a child, and chased away the old man inside of me.

Welcome home.