I grew up in a decently large town, though it seems to me like a tiny little place. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, where people thought it was weird that I had to drive on the highway to get to high school. I knew nothing different than what I lived in for the past 18 years of my life. Until what I called home changed.
College came and I would be embarking on a journey to a city smaller than what I grew up in, though, in some weird, strange way, it seemed bigger. For my next four years, I would spend nine months each year in this place called Pullman, WA. I have begun to catch myself when I say "I leave for home" or something in that matter when referring to going back to Pullman. I live on the cove of the peninsula going to an island, where what surrounds my house are not stores and other houses, but instead lots and lots of trees. My closest friends are the deer that come up to the door, the chirping birds who act like my alarm in the morning, and it's rare to even hear a car at night! A lot of the time I have taken being able to group up in such a unique part of Olympia, WA for granted. The locally owned, non-chain coffee shop, convenience store, vet and driving range (where my family will spend the evening hitting golf balls) are the places that are most familiar. Who needs to go to the grocery store when your neighbors bring over freshly-hatched eggs from their chickens, you pick blackberries from the side of the road, steal your neighbor's apples and blueberries, and a big box of squash and zucchini sits on the side of the road up for grabs. Oh, man do I love "Oly" in my neck of the woods. Pullman, in some aspects, really cannot compare.
I wanted the same feel in college that I have back home, or at least as close as I could get. Something that still was the small town vibe that I got, I have realized I really do love the small town vibe. I thought growing up in Olympia was going to always be my home; I'd raise my kids there, have a job, and live in the same neighborhood as I did! Though times change quickly. Yes, Olympia will always be my original home, and Pullman will be my home away from home that I would spend four years of my life there, though there is one more place to call home now.
College brought many changes into my life, and one was where I would go home on breaks for the next couple of years. My family has decided to invest in a new home for us, in Chelan, WA. Like Olympia and Pullman, Chelan has the small town vibe where everything is independently owned and feels as if there are no worries in the world! I will be honest, at first, I was scared and was not looking forward to the move, though that changed after visiting for the first time in three years this past summer and standing in the dirt where will soon be my bedroom felt like home.
I will always have Olympia as the place where the little version of myself would run around like a chicken with my head cut off. Pullman will also be the town that made me who I am, where I have found some of my best friends that will be there forever. Now Chelan will be the home that I start my post college home, where I will work at, vacation at with my friends and call home.
Past, Present, Future.
Olympia, Pullman, Chelan.
Each home will forever and always have a special place in my heart!
