I’m here, again. Seamlessly Sliding into Seattle for a respite, catch up and some good coffee! Last year, to the day, I arrived here from Berlin. I slept for two days until I emerged upon the US landscape a reborn girl, full of adventure, inspiration and curiosity. I was emboldened from Europe and I learned to expect good transportation, high art, and excellent food. But I longed for smiles from strangers.
I was welcomed with open arms (as always) into Seattle. I have visited here nearly a dozen times, and I am happy to think of this town fondly, wistfully and as a second home. One of my besties moved here over a decade ago, and I can’t stop visiting. And each time I do, it’s as if no time or distance between us exists. I have fallen in love with her friends, her jobs, her husband, her child and her city. And my time here serves as a checkpoint for the year. A time to reflect and journal about my accomplishments and my failures since the last time I was here.
So one of my dearest of friends who is on the verge of having her second baby. The first go around was a flurry because she was also getting married within the same year of having her first baby. And this time will likely be a fast and flurrious visit as well because, hey, it’s a busy life with a hubby, a baby, a jobby job and another baby on the way. I am taking note of my eggs this time around. I am counting them and holding them dearly as one of my besties is driving forward into family-hood and I am living the traveler’s life. Sure, my life is an amazing adventure full of laughter, and learning, but (so far) also without a long-term relationship or any inclining of baby-ness…which is fine. I’m not rushing to have a baby by myself, but I know now I could do that too, if I wanted to. Because I’ve learned while on the road that I am capable of anything, beyond anything I would have thought I could accomplish in my perfect home, perfect job, perfect man, cats and dog, in the Midwest as few years ago.
I met a woman last year who began her travels after she had wrapped her busy NYC life, which included banking her eggs. For those of you who don’t know what that means, she had a few of her eggs frozen and stored for her use. She wrote and described to me the freedom she felt as she did not have the same time clock ticking that I was feeling. She was assured a baby in the bush (so to say) at some point, when she chose, if she didn’t conceive. The lack of planning on my part actually sent me into a minor emotional tailspin…but hey, we all learn. And ultimately, I know that there are many beautiful children already out there that would love to have a loving mother (at least I think I would be loving!). Soo, while I would love to have a child of my own (and yes Mother, I know you want that too!), I feel good knowing I can also adopt if I cannot conceive.
So, while I am Seamlessly Sliding in Seattle, I am truthfully Seamlessly Sliding into my Sisterhood with one of my closest friends. And while my adult-life is quite different from hers at the moment, I am still here. Effortlessly connecting. Supporting my sister-woman-friend, in the only way I know how. To live, fearlessly and unabashedly and to return to Seattle, as often as I can. To remember myself from the year before and to greet my myself, here, again. And to say hello, share a coffee, get a mani/pedi and laugh with my oldest girlfriend.