Seattle childhood

I went to Seattle for work and the best {BEST} part was seeing some family friends. Family friends doesn’t really go far enough…aunt & uncle, that actually doesn’t describe the closeness either. Parents set #2? I don’t know, but these people are super important and special to me!

When I was a wee-lass, my mom plopped me down on Ann’s lap one Sunday when she had to run off to teach a lesson. I won her over and they became our best family friends. I’m sure my mom had some kind of friendship with Ann before this, but in my child mind it was me who catalyzed this lifelong bond between our families. That sounds about right – everything revolving around me, definitely how it happened. We didn’t live near family and neither did they, so we became each other’s Seattle family – even when we moved we still had Thanksgiving together every year up until just a few years ago (Seattle to Nevada is quite the trip, now my parents do summer trips with them).

I went to their house while visiting and it was like walking into my childhood home – well it was, it is one of my childhood homes. The dark room John and my dad built for John’s photography business (they did my wedding pictures. Having ‘family’ take your pictures is wonderful cause I got to spend the afternoon with them), the re-insulated living room I helped with, the lightswitch on the outside of the bathroom – all the little and big memories came back to me, even though I hadn’t been here in years it was like I never left. The softest brown couches from their living room were gone – I loved when my parents would stay to watch a movie so I could fall asleep on those couches. The crystal ornaments that used to hang from their window were moved, I used to love watching the sun hit them and scatter light across the floor – even now when I see this I think of their living room and {rare} sunny days in Seattle.

I felt like I was at their house all the time – I wasn’t, but the memory of my childhood has their house in it all the time. When Ann’s youngest went off to kindergarten she would call my mom and say that she needed a kid for the afternoon – I was both of their youngest.

I went to their bookshelf – at the end of the hall. I could’ve sat there all night, soaking up memories of the books Ann read to me and checking out my old favorites. Is this where my love of reading came from? The Giving Tree will always make me think of Ann.

John would always scare me during movies (my dad was worse! No safety with these two!) and I realized seeing him this time and at my wedding that I’m always a little on edge around him, waiting for him to scare me or tickle me….it’s only taken 20 years for me to realize this! It was always a mixture of feeling 100% safe from the world - sprinkled with fear of impending tickling fingers. 

John took me back to my hotel and as I walked away an up to my room I teared up – like some overly dramatic movie. It was tender and sweet to see them, just stinks to grow up and realize that I’ll see them less and less. Um…I’m not going to think about that anymore.