West Coast Family

Dave and I just wrapped up a decent dinner that had hints of white trash. Turkey meatball subs on white hot dog buns, with a Caesar salad-in-a-bag, and canned peas. It reminds me of when I was a young girl and I went to my best friend's house the night her mom served Steak-Umms for

dinner. I hadn't been privy to this glorious processed meat, and I ran home and tried to persuade my mom to buy summ. She looked at me like, "Really, Shawna, Steak-Umms? I made cream-puff swans for my last dinner party." I must accredit the salad-in-a-bag to Dave. He likes it, and went to the store for me, so I averted my eyes to the epic ingredients list, and tossed the listless leaves with the mini-bag of croutons. The canned peas are part of my Let's Clean Out the Cupboards initiative. Dave asserted it wasn't white trashy enough, as he was enjoying a glass of white wine.

We haven't been eating too well these past few weeks. There's just a lot going on, and at the end of the day I'm not really inspired to prepare an elaborate dish. If there's something green and some protein on the plate, I'm satisfied. Tuesday night we grilled sausages, made a broccoli salad, and ate dinner off our laps on the back steps.

Dave and I have been playing the game What I Won't Miss over dinner. We randomly list things

we won't miss about Seattle. For example, I won't miss our upstairs neighbors who host drunken board game parties directly above our bed! On Monday nights! C-ya! Dave won't miss the lackluster summer. 60 degrees and overcast in mid-June? C-ya! But sometimes our conversation veers to what we will miss: life-affirming Americanos, Edie's caregivers at daycare, our buddies, taco trucks, Crossfit, and most of all, the Kitzmans.

Moving cross-country is stressful for both of us, but we are going towards my people. The Kitzmans have been nothing but accepting and giving since the moment I met them. Dave has a pretty small family, composed of his mom, sister, dad, two nephews, and some cousins throughout the Puget Sound. His mom (hi Cookie!) has bought me and his sister (hi Becky!) to season tickets at the 5th Avenue Theater for the past couple of years. After Cookie treats us to a nice dinner out (no Steak-Umms in sight), we check out musicals including In the Heights and The Drowsy Chaperone, two of my faves. She also watches Edie every week, one day if not more, when I'm at work. She takes Edie for walks, to her favorite yarn and sock stores, and even sends me photo-documentation during the day.

Whenever Dave's dad accompanies her (hi Art!), he drives me to the office. He must consider King County Metro a rough-and-tumble operation. Art and I chat about random things on our weekly commute, such as his experience in the Navy, or his relationship with his sister Delores growing up, but I have yet to learn why he doesn't swim. I've grown to look forward to our one-on-one, 12-minute conversations.

Becky is my West Coast sister. She loves being Aunt Becky (which she pronounces "Ant"), and brings little outfits for Edie when she babysits. Aunt Becky spent a whole weekend with Edie a couple weeks ago, and the girls wore matching outfits to a family brunch. Pretty cute.

So the bad news is we will really miss the Kitzmans. But the good news is we'll have strong family ties to Seattle, forever. And, Skype. And the internet and airplanes.

Some like it ice cold

It strikes me as strange when Seattlites complain about the rain. I mean, you choose to live here, right? And this region is rather damp, no? In general, I just zip up my waterproof jacket and shoulder the weather. It doesn't always rain here, but there are many grey days, and these days have a certain chill. By early June, we Seattleites shuffle along feeling sorry for our soggy selves while our New England, Sun Belt, Rust Belt, and Corn Belt brethren bask in the early joys of summer. Okay so the midwest had horrific tornadoes rip through a few weeks ago. I'm sure the storms ripped the clouds out of the sky to expose some sun.

In Seattle's defense, on sunny summer days it stays light ridiculously long. I'm talking 5:30 a.m. and the sun is shining with such vigor that I jump out of bed fearing I missed the bus. Conversely, two hours after dinner's cleaned up, the sun is burning so brightly I wonder if I should go for a run or maybe learn how to garden. Then I see that it's 9:30pm, and I look down at my slippers and think better of it.

The other day I took Edie to the baby clothes store and picked up some sweet summer duds on sale. Prior to our outting, she had one pair of shorts that were gathering dust. How will she deal with the heat and humidity? What about me and Dave? I'm thinking lots of lemonade, some lakeside swimming, and minimal A/C. We'll see if I'm so fond of the New Enland summer in a few weeks.

On a parting note, summer in Seattle is one of the Northwest's best kept secrets. It starts the week after 4th of July. Long, hot, dry days with painfully gorgeous sunsets. Why are we moving the end of June again?