Before we were married, I came up to Washington just to see where my sugar was from, his stomping grounds, the place where he caused so much trouble. The place where he always talked about the beauty.
It was not the first time I'd been to the state of Washington, so I knew of all the trees and the green. I knew of the all the nature, blah blah blah, that it had to offer.
In my opinion, a tree was a tree, a mountain was a mountain, and this water was freaking way colder than California, so what is the appeal. But, clearly, I was an outsider amongst this future family of mine. I had the wrong mindset towards all this nature nonsense from the beginning, and they kindly laughed, and probably mocked me a bit, (definitely mocked me a lot) at how foolish this desert girl was. I was not impressed by trees, but more impressed by architecture, arts, sports, and history. I wanted to see the culture of this city and not a freaking green tree, green plant, green moss, or green anything, other than green centerfield at Safeco.
An 18 hour drive later (where I got easily car sick) to Deception Pass, Mount Rainier, or Snoqualmie Falls (I don't remember - it was all the same to me), and I was sure that these freaking trees along this drive looked the exact same as the ones that could be found in my husband's childhood neighborhood.
Honestly. I wasn't impressed. I was frustrated and annoyed. Still not getting the beauty that everyone else around me awed over. And I was thinking, we could be at a Mariners game right now. Ugh.
But, I stuck it out, grumbling and mocking this granola family in my own way. (I'm sure are so glad that I did. 😂)
But in time, this desert girl's heart softened. A lot of softening, actually. And I think this guy right here gets most of the credit.
15 years later, and we set off to find the beauty that this magical place has to offer any chance we get. I'll take all the green trees, green pants, green moss, and most assuredly the green of a Safeco when baseball season rolls around.
So it's true. You can teach an old dog new tricks. Although it's not entirely because of my Sugar, and his family. But it's mostly thanks to my children. I want them to grow up with a bit of wanderlust for all that's around them, a sense of adventure, and sense of gratitude for this lovely place we live in... wherever we happen to be living at the time. Be it a serene desert like before, or now the beautiful scenes found only in the Pacific Northwest.
