My Love Letter to Seattle

Dear Seattle,

I didn’t know, when I chose where I was going to live next, how much you would mean to me. I had never visited before and simply trusted the feeling I had that it was the next move. And I could not have been more right.

I also could not have imagined how much these (almost) 3 years were going to impact me. How Seattle and the people I have met and worked with here would shape my adulthood.

I have never lived anywhere so beautiful. Where the air is so crisp and clean, and stunning mountains can be seen in every direction. I cannot count the number of times the sight of Mt. Rainier has made me lose my breath. And the seagulls. That whiff of ocean breeze I catch at unexpected times. The nightly sunsets reflecting off of the clouds. The waterfront. The numerous parks to explore. The character of the city. I have never lived somewhere I have loved half so much.

Though people complain about your winters, I never much minded them. Coming from the Midwest, I thrived walking to the grocery store and doing workouts outside during months I was used to hiding every inch of my skin for fear of it freezing off. I was tickled by your mild winters, while they still paid homage to the changing seasons. And your summers… Well. Your summers make anything else worth it.

I was a child when I moved to Seattle. Technically I was in my 20s, but I had never existed outside of academia. I had spent all of my adult life thus far in college, and therefore had only lived where I grew up and where I was studying. But Seattle. Seattle meant freedom, and unnamed possibilities. It meant (rather terrifyingly) that there were no limits to what I could do with my time. There were no deadlines. No clear path to follow to begin a ‘successful’ acting career. But you nurtured me. You allowed me the time and space to flourish, to find my adult self. To find out who I was as an artist, a wife, and a woman. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

I cannot fully express how much this place and the people who live here mean to me. How many opportunities you have afforded me, despite my limited credits. How many people I have grown to know and love, and how much passion they have for their art. How inspired I am with every coffee date, every premiere, every witty twitter exchange. You have helped me grow into an artist. You have pushed me to work harder, keep exploring, and walk through my fears.

And I thank you. From the bottom of my heart, to the top of Mt. Rainier… I thank you.

I thank you for the community you house. For the immensely creative people I have had the good fortune to meet. For the emphasis you put on healthy lifestyles in both what you eat and what you do. And for the natural beauty I had the privilege of witnessing every single day.

Thank you.

With all of my heart,

Sarah J. Eagen