Rainy Days Suck, So Why do I Live in the Great North Wet?

It's raining. Again. It was sunny for 10 minutes yesterday, I swear it really was! But that's just winter time here in Western Washington. Of course, it's also fall and spring and a good part of the summer, too. So why would anyone consciously choose to live somewhere that is so...dreary?

If you ask 10 people that live here why they live here, you'll likely get 10 very different reasons. Myself, I lived here for a few years after a childhood surrounded by California drought and agriculture. Then I moved to Arizona for a very long 7 years in the desert (no offense to those who love the "dry heat," it just wasn't for me). When the opportunity presented itself to return to greener trees and cooler temperatures (and occasional snow without a four hour drive), I was all in. I've lived near Seattle, drank more than my fair share of coffee and "Did the Puyallup" (it's a local thing-aka going to the state fair). But I've come to realize that wet, green hills are home to me. I'm now lucky enough to live only a half hour casual walk from the ocean, very near North America's only temperate rain forest and have learned that I neither shrink nor melt if I go walking in the rain. And if I am lucky enough that we have one of our violent ocean storms on a night when I'm home alone with the dogs, we listen to the wind and rain beat at the house. We three get very still and very quiet, and we can feel the waves pound the beach a mile away.

And when the sun breaks through the next morning, it's like looking at the world through a prism. The air is so clean and fresh that the whole world seems to sparkle and come alive. The black-tail deer come out of hiding to graze on our lawn and our bald eagle wheels above the house. After the horrible storm, the world is simply beautiful.

I can deal with the wet and windy. The sparkling clarity of the morning after makes it all worthwhile.