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Prairie vs. mountains
Feb. 21st, 2004 09:56 amTell the average Seattle native that you have applied for a position in the heart of Kansas and they look at you as if you have lost your mind. Add that it is in a community of about 7,000 and they just shake their heads.
But, strange as it may sound, I miss the vistas of the open range land. On a business trip last fall to Richland, Washington I remember looking over the town and saying to myself that this was a nice, little community. The openness of the Palouse hills was faintly reminiscent of the Fling Hills of Kansas near where I grew up. My colleague, born and raised in Seattle, surprised me by saying what an awful place Richland must be to live.
It's easy to feel hemmed in by the imposing mountains and water. I don't ski, hate the traffic and am not awed by the Puget Sound. I mean, it's all pretty enough, but the cost of living is ridiculous. I would be making the same salary in Kansas where the mean cost of a home is 1/3 what it is in Seattle. The scenery here is really pretty, but maybe that's the stuff of vacation trips. In day-to-day life, I find myself missing the places I've lived in the middle of the country, from Kansas to the Texas hill country to Arkansas, I feel more at home in a more rural setting.
I miss small town life. I miss just being minutes from the countryside. And I have never felt so alone as I have in these past 5 1/2 years in the city; it's just so hard to connect with people. What's really weird is that I have also never felt so unconnected with the history of a place, and I work in a history and heritage field.
Now, first things first, I just hope I get an interview. I absolutely love what I do for a living and the only thing that would make it better would be to do it in an area where I really feel at home.
But, strange as it may sound, I miss the vistas of the open range land. On a business trip last fall to Richland, Washington I remember looking over the town and saying to myself that this was a nice, little community. The openness of the Palouse hills was faintly reminiscent of the Fling Hills of Kansas near where I grew up. My colleague, born and raised in Seattle, surprised me by saying what an awful place Richland must be to live.
It's easy to feel hemmed in by the imposing mountains and water. I don't ski, hate the traffic and am not awed by the Puget Sound. I mean, it's all pretty enough, but the cost of living is ridiculous. I would be making the same salary in Kansas where the mean cost of a home is 1/3 what it is in Seattle. The scenery here is really pretty, but maybe that's the stuff of vacation trips. In day-to-day life, I find myself missing the places I've lived in the middle of the country, from Kansas to the Texas hill country to Arkansas, I feel more at home in a more rural setting.
I miss small town life. I miss just being minutes from the countryside. And I have never felt so alone as I have in these past 5 1/2 years in the city; it's just so hard to connect with people. What's really weird is that I have also never felt so unconnected with the history of a place, and I work in a history and heritage field.
Now, first things first, I just hope I get an interview. I absolutely love what I do for a living and the only thing that would make it better would be to do it in an area where I really feel at home.
