It all starts with the Goonies--for those of you who have not seen the Goonies, take a break from reading now and go watch it-- The film takes place in Astoria, Oregon which is a picturesque, Pacific Northwest, Coastal town. It's an adventure film about a group of kids who are in search of ancient pirate treasure with great hopes that it will help them to pay off their parents debts so they can stay in their homes and not be forced out by a rich (evil) developer... I first watched it when I was just a little guy, it quickly became my favorite movie (and still is) and I like to believe that my first aspirations to move to the Pacific Northwest started there.
(random side note... if you open the cargo bin on top of my car, you will see pasted inside the top cover a HUGE sticker that sports an ancient philosophical quote... "Goonies never say Die"- I like to live by those profound words of wisdom)
The next recollection I have of a desire to be out west comes from yet another movie, but this one won't be a requirement to watch in order to keep reading. Do you remember the movie Fear? It starred Mark Wahlberg... The story line was somewhat scary, i guess... but really is not important to my point. What WAS important, to me at least, was that the dad in the story was a successful architect and designed and built his home on this beautiful cliff edge overlooking the water- also somewhere in the pacific northwest... (a quick search on IMDB shows that more specifically, it was Mercer Island, Washington) he had what I knew I eventually wanted- a nice family (less the creeping from Mark Wahlberg) and a beautiful home. So from the age of 14, a small part of me wondered what it would be like to live out there... Little did I know that 13 years later I would be packing my car up to go.
For the next handful of years I finished up high school in New York, went to college for Architecture in Philly, moved to DC for a job related to design after college, started my own small company, made a lot of new friends, drifted from others, reconnected with some from a long time ago, and generally speaking, just lived life as best I knew how... and until the economy tanked, I really didn't know if I would ever make my dream trip.
Funny to think that I'm putting those 13 years in one (long) sentence. Those of you who know me well know that I've considered writing (or co-writing- with Deb) a book all about the past 13 years, but Ill save that for another time, or maybe just another blog... This blog is going to be about now. About what a young man does when he decides after 27 years living on one coast and building a life for himself, that it is time to let go of a lot, in order to follow a little.
here is the basic timeline, for reference.
Dec 7th 2009 Negotiated terms with my job to leave, effective Jan 1...
Dec 7-29th Sell my things, and find someone to take over my bedroom at my group house
Dec 29th- Current- Move back in with my parents in New York.
Feb 9th- HIT THE ROAD
Currently I am in DC, back already to visit my close friends so I don't have to feel like my exit was rushed. This coming weekend ill be in Philly to see my friends from college. And on Feb 9th, Ill hit the road with expectations to spend some time in Chicago with my best friend Joe doing some construction work for a while, then bounce around the country, hopefully to arrive in (the other) Washington by spring.
0 comments:
Post a Comment