As in, …I miss my former home. To be specific, I didn't grow up in Seattle. It was 20 miles north, up in Everett. Although the trip was for a sad reason, it is always good to see where I'm from, and to spend time with my best friend and her amazing family.
I like Minnesota just fine. There's nothing wrong with it at all. But I miss where I'm from. Even crappy shots like these (which i'm ALL about these days) make me yearn for Washington, and my friend, Molly.
Just the familiarity of breathing the air of where I'm from.
You know?
Stacy B says
Love seeing that first picture. That’s my HOME too. I hope to move back there in the near future. I miss it!
Heidi P. says
Hey, you’re so close! I live in the Barbarian Village of Leavenworth, WA….I grew up in Hawaii so I know what it’s like to go home…..but I’ve been in WA for 20 years and love it too….
Brianna says
I’m sorry to be dirty blog lurker but could you give me a call?
Thanks
~Brianna
Rose says
Seems like no matter how much older we grow and how many years we live someplace else, where we grew up will always be home.
There is no place like home.
Peace~
Rose
Carol says
I know exactly what you mean about the air. When I get off the plane and walk out of the terminal in san francisco, it’s like – this is so familiar, the air – I remember…I am home.
Kim Devereaux says
Cathy, I can soooo relate to being ‘home’! I was born in MN but spent 25 years in the Everett area and for the last year and a half I have called Spokane home….I’m still homesick! There definitely is something about the air over there!!! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your blog!!!!
Gretchyn says
Ahhh, pictures from home. I so get this! DH and I moved from Seattle(I lived in Shoreline for 5 years until we got married, and then we moved to Kent) to Michigan 3 years ago, and there is still something about flying in over the mountains and seeing the sound as I land that just gets me every time. Now the real test — are you still able to come off of 520 onto I-5 south, across all 4 or 5 lanes of traffic to make it to the Mercer St exit without getting in a fender-bender? Good times… 🙂
Kirsten says
I do know. I’m glad you were able to breathe our air, even under sad circumstances. And I know that stretch of I-5, it’s my route home from my sister’s house. See? your crappy shots even ring a bell in me. And lol at Gretchyn’s “test” – I hate that stretch of road, as a matter of fact…
melly says
Born and bread Tacoma girl, checking in. Re-located to Indy for luv.
I struggle with the flat-ness of the mid-west daily.
Seeing your (even crappy) photos of the I-5 sign fills me with that longing. And seeing the foothills in the distance…-sigh-
Sometimes the clouds out here like to play tricks on me and make me THINK I’m looking at the Olympic mountains but they’re really not fooling me.
Thanks for the pangs of nostalgia, Cathy.
Take a few deep breaths for me.
melly says
*bred (damnit) -lol-
Sara R. says
I am waiting impatiently to breathe that NW air! Going home to Oregon in just a week!!! Happy for you to be able to spend some time at home. It’s a great thing.
Melissa Raphael says
I know the feeling…when I step off the plane in Michigan, it’s Michigan air that fills me up and floods me with memories. There really is no place like home.
noel culbertson says
i live here in wa and wake up to a view of the beautiful cascade mountains every morning (except when it’s really cloudy… lol!)
there truly is no place like home!
susan opel says
Yep, there’s no place like home. Perhaps Madonna (as in Louise Ciccone) wasn’t a fan of Bay City, MI, but dammit – I kinda like the place. Were it not for my hometown, what would the Bay City Rollers have called themselves? The Virginia Beach Rollers just does NOT have the dame ring, agree? 😉
Susan says
We’re like the salmon…we smell home.
another pac nw reader checking in.
so when are you coming to CKC, huh? you know, just for the smell 🙂
Kathryn (aka kate) says
I love Washington!
My brother and family live in Seattle and my Aunt and Uncle live in Everett. I don’t get up there as much as I would like but it is my home away from home.
There are so many neat places to visit!
Sorry you aren’t there for pleasure this time.
Hope you enjoy your visit none the less.
Allison Barnes says
wow, that first picture gave me an instant heart ache.. I didn’t realize how homesick I was! I miss the great northwest so much! Vegas is so ugly!!
Sorry about the funeral… those are always hard.
Allison Barnes
Angie says
Eek! I know that first site! Drove it for many years during rush hour…And the second – the views up north are so pretty – when you can see the foothills…
I am sorry for the reason for the trip back home. Sending good thoughts your way and your best friend’s way.
We lived in Illinois for 3+ years and am so glad to be back in the NW. We are further south now, but I can breathe and smell the air.
Kimberly says
I have both of your clean&simple books – in the part of the world where I live now (Kuwait) there is no such thing as scrapbookign materials…I bought your books right before I relocated here and they arrived in a shipment recently. Thanks for the inspiration – your style is more like what I’d like mine to be. lol.
I grew up not too far from your home area – but across the border, on the Canadian side. I used to head to Seattle often…Pike Market etc…and remember that area very well – the traffic is crazy – but in all honesty, nothing comes close to the driving in this part of the world!
I miss the mountains..I miss the changing seasons..I miss the cold..I miss the wet even (never thought I’d say that)…I just miss HOME. I miss the air, I miss Tim Hortons, I miss so much…I relocated because my husband is from here, and there’s wonderful things to living here too..but seeing your photos really brought it all back.
I feel for you, returning for a sad reason..my God be with your friend during a rough time. But at the same time, thanks for sharing photos at a time when I longed to see them.
Lotsa love
Jerrie says
I’m glad you could enjoy being home even though it was for a sad reason!
I love the Pacific Northwest, can’t imagine what would pull me away (nothing so far…but I won’t say nothing ever will). I am a few hours north – right on the Canadian border! Fun times!
Harriet says
HOME……..the word evokes the memories that are more cherishe each year. The place we come from molds us into the people we become. Each return visit gives us a sense of peace and purpose. I’m sorry your trip home was for a sad reason, but the trip allowed you to touch base with a life long friends, and touch base with your self.
Ana says
We almost could have stumbled upon each other! I was in Kirkland this weekend. 🙂
Aby says
I hopped on over for a little inspiration…and you didn’t disappoint. Thank you, Cathy. I totally get what you mean about going home. My home is Michigan…and I miss it terribly, especially during the holidays. Maybe that’s part of what makes the holidays less fun than it used to be…at least it is for me.
This year I put together a talk on getting organized for the holidays for a local hospital (which I then turned into an instant download product if anyone’s interested.) In putting together this talk, I decided to create a holiday mantra or inspiration statement. My statement is “the joy is in the journey.” It occurred to me that if I wait until all the to-do’s are done to start enJOYing the holidays, it just wouldn’t happen. There’s always one more thing to do. Always. And even more so during the holidays.
So when I’m starting to feel stressed by all that’s still to be done, I think back to my mission of joy. I look for simple ways to make the stuff that needs to get done more fun like cranking holiday music, dancing, and drinking mass quantities of hot cocoa with soft fluffy marshmallows.
But not all at once. 😉
Oh, and my tree isn’t up either. It was too warm to get it one weekend. Too rainy the next. So I’m thinking, I could be perfectly joyful without a tree this year. (I’m guessing my family won’t go for that one…but it’s fun to fantasize.)
Happy holidays, Cathy! Thanks for the inspiration all year long.
Aby
Christy says
I live in the EVT! Love your work, your style and your blog 🙂 Good to know a chick from a small town can become a famous scrapper… dreams happen.
Cindy P. says
Hi Cathy,
yes, that used to be my commute to Seattle from Everett (Silver Lake to be precise)- now I work in Redmond. Think of you every time I drive by the Skate Deck! Trust me, it hasn’t changed a bit in 40 years right down to no dang A/C in the summer! PS – I’ll be 42 on Friday – class of 1984 Lynnwood HS. Our paths may have crossed back in the day! My son goes to James Monroe Elementary – did you go there? So sorry for your friend’s loss.
Happy Holidays!
Cindy
Surcie says
Hey, Cathy! I live on the E. Coast, but I was born in Spokane and lived close to Seattle (Edmonds) as a preschooler. My entire family, from both sets of great-grandparents all the way down, is from western WA and most of my relatives are still there. Whenever I’m visiting the Seattle area, I really feel like I’m in the Land of My People. And somehow I feel most like my truest self. (Don’t know if that makes sense.) Anyway, all this to say, I can relate!
Diane says
Hi Cathy,
While you were in Everett, I was back home in Southern California (for a sad visit as well.) I stepped out of the SeaTac terminal this morning and took that first breath of Seattle air and yes, I too am back where I belong, in Marysville…ahhhh!
Megan @ Disorder2Order says
I feel your situation although I have to say I love the PNW too! As a transplant from Chicago there is nothing better than coming home.
Leessa says
Such a warm and longing feeling when I looked at those shots. I have lived in AZ for the last 4 years but I am from Lynnwood (LHS class of 89 – Cindy we were very close – LOL!) I miss it so terribly! DH is from Louisiana and is happy to be here. Maybe someday I will get to move back, either that or I will win the lottery so I can fly “home” whenever I want – LOL!
Thanks!
Leessa
Carrie K says
I grew up in Tacoma and the picture of the signs made me miss home too…
i can totally relate to breathing the air of home.
happy you could spend a few moments breathing 🙂
Denise says
We just moved in August (about 5 miles away!) and I miss my old *house* like crazy. Despite the fact it was waaaay too tiny for us 😉