But then we did. And my job took us to Portland, Oregon. I fell in love with that place. It was breath-takingly beautiful, the people were nice, the politics were right up my alley and we put a bird on everything (which I still hartily endorse though now I am much more likely to put a woodland creature on it.) I proudly called myself and Oregonian and took up recycling, wearing clothes from Columbia and marveling at how green and gorgeous everything was with very little effort.
But life circumstances changed and we found ourselves back in Utah. This time, I really do (knock on wood) think we are here for good. I feel very settled and I'm so tired of moving every few years. And I suddenly feel like I am looking at this place through new eyes. This is literally the view from my back yard:
I saw views like that literally every single day of my life growing up and never gave them a second thought. But since moving back here a couple of years ago, I can't get over how beautiful it is. And the crazy snow storm that we had this week was the little reminder that I needed about what an inspiring place this is to live.
I'm not writing this to convince all of you to move to Utah. It's pretty, but the drivers are still terrible and it's still impossible to get into a movie on a Friday night unless you buy your tickets 19 hours ahead of time. But have you looked around the place you live lately? Have you noticed how beautiful it is? Or maybe it's really ugly, but you have great restaurants. Or the views are terrible, but you get free cookies each month (Where is that place? I'd live there.) But I bet there is something. So find it. And apreciate it. And then move to another state and then you'll really appreciate it. That's what I did.
