It’s pretty powerful that on any given day you have the power to change the direction you want your life to go. It’s just deciding who you’re gonna be, what’s it gonna look like, how you’re gonna do it. Just deciding. One day last year on a whim, Chey decided to apply for a teaching job here in Pullman. She applied so late the job posting had closed two months before she sent in her application. We didn’t know that. As fate would have it she would end up getting an interview anyway. We had one day to decide if she would take the interview. We decided we would drive 10 hours round trip in a day and a half to go give that dream a shot. Turns out that the Pullman teachers and administrators she talked with decided she would be a perfect fit here. She was given a call back. I think she had a week to decide if she was going to take it. I also think we had decided she would take the job before we even left Pullman on her interview trip. So many decisions led us back to Pullman but what did Pullman really offer that we couldn’t find it Tacoma?
I love the mountains. I love the Puget Sound. I love the rain. I don’t love the traffic. But to me the southern Puget Sound was a place I never saw myself leaving. Both our families are in the area. Pullman was always a pipe dream and a fun thing to day dream about whenever Rachel would beg us to move east. Maybe it was that long 5 hour drive back west, when Chey finished her interview and we chatted about the upsides of moving to Pullman. I think in our hearts we were both trying to convince each other it was a good idea, even though we weren’t sure ourselves. For one, Pullman is nostalgic. Would living there capture that same magic that all Cougs experience when they go to school here? That intangible, but very real, electricity that exists on campus. Was it the messy brushstrokes of orange, red and purple that are cast across the evening sky in the summer and fall months? The warm summer breeze? Was the allure of Pullman that freeze which causes your nose to become a cavern of a dozen boogie-crystals on deep breaths? I’m not really sure what it is. But it very different from the Tacoma area. My guess is as good as yours, but that might’ve been the biggest draw. We decided we wanted something different.
It is different here. I’m not sure how yet but there is something about the people. It’s a small town, but it reels people in from all over the world. It’s a carousel of sorts. People only stay for a few years and maybe they come back like we did. Even professionals in this town seem to come and go like seasons (thx fergie). I knew this before we moved here. It’s safe here too. I never lock my car. People walk places. In Tacoma I never once walked anywhere. You don’t do that in Tacoma unless you’re right downtown and even then most the time you need to get into your car and drive to go anywhere. I knew moving here I could change the way I lived. I could become more localized. But my habits from living in Tacoma have followed me here. I still drive places even though I could walk. I will drive a mile. I’m not experiencing Pullman in the way it can be experienced. I think I am selling myself short of what Pullman is and has to offer.
In college I had no car and had to rely on rides from others, primarily Dalton (https://daltonandtammy.blogspot.com/?m=1 oh yeah go there and subscribe to email updates). But I also rode my bike around for 2 years and had no problems. I rode in the winter and I rode in the summer. My work commute is ridiculously short now. I had to commute further in college to work than I do right now. Why am I not doing that now? I’ve gotten lazy and I need to shake it up a bit, and experience Pullman. So, I’ve listed my car on Craigslist and plan to bike anywhere I need to go. Damn Thoreau must’ve gotten to me since the last post. Chey will still keep her Subaru for our errands and trips, and I plan to get a car again sooner than later. But I need to open my mind up to what Pullman is offering. I sound like a granoly.
Also Dalton and I have talked ourselves out of the Ironman race. I think we enjoyed the sound of becoming Ironmen. What that means. I think I liked the idea of completing the race for the status and what it meant more than actually having a desire to do it. I mean I enjoy doing races and training for hard physical goals and what not. But I like to run because it makes me healthy and stronger for things I enjoy doing like hiking. An Ironman is just so much training for something that is just a one liner- “I did an Ironman.” I dont think the reward would be worth the amount of time it would take to train for it. It’s not a lifetime dream of mine to do the race. I just thought it would be a good challenge. I’d rather spend the time training for that by instead working on my mind, or spending the time with Cheyenne, or hiking mountains. That being said we are still running a marathon in June. I guess I just didn’t want to waste my entire year in 2020 hanging out in the gym and committing to something I didn’t care enough about just to say “I did it.” So again, on any given day, you can plant your foot and turn around. You can change your course.
SEL is moving me to day shift in March. I look forward to it so much. I will be aligned with Cheyenne’s schedule and we can even carpool if need be. Another cool part of Pullman I wanted to experience is all the cool events at WSU that happen in the evenings. I haven’t been able to go to them since I work the swing shift. Working 8-4 sounds like the dream. I’m just going to be happy to see Cheyenne during the days instead of solely on the weekends. I think I got a little lucky to be changed cuz only last week did I ask to be transferred but this week they actually created a new shift time that covers both day shifts and swing shifts at SEL. It was a smart decision to ask about it when I did.
Things are tickin upwards.
Stay livin’
