WA State, Seattle, Everett WA, CA... friends, good times, so much learning about myself... and life

 I lived in Everett WA when I was in Seattle. I moved just North to Everett after I left the Credit Union in West Seattle, where I had an awesome apartment just about 5 minutes from Alki Beach that was across from the Sound and the Entire City of Seattle was just amazing. I LOVED IT THERE!!! Everett still holds a huge place in my heart in WA..I have 2 incredible friends and their family that still live there. They are just wonderful people and Everett holds many great memories for me. Jim and I were living inEverett the night he proposed to me surprisingly at a club we used to go to with our friends. They all knew about it and were there that night. When the Blues singer called me onstage I had no idea why and Jim came up and proposed to me onstage in front of a pretty large crowd that night. My life that entire 5 years plus... changed forever....I grew in my own "self"...I learned how strong I was, How I could do for myself, had my own apartment, a new job (although being an apartment manager in Seattle was the BEST)... I found out so much more about who I was, who I wanted to be, how I thought I would not like living in a huge city and I LOVED IT HUGE HILLS AND ALL.. the ferries, the islands, the sounds, the food, everything I loved everything about being there...Everett was a bit more quiet, out of the middle of the bustle of the city, easier to get around in, and had everything you needed... in fact the night life there and we didn't go out a whole lot, but lots of nice little bars, all usually with live music, lots of Blues... and just up North about maybe 10 miles was a Casino... so we went there a few times... nothing like Winstar in OK, or Vegas, or Bossier City Louisiana but it was nice, and has slots, great food, and we even went up 1 Christmas and spent time with friends there and had dinner there. I loved the apartment in Everett also... it was larger so the 2nd bedroom was our office.... gosh when I think about all the different things I learned... how to "code HTML" and actually design websites for clients.... learned a great deal at that time about search engines, keywords and things at the tie were not as popular to the ordinary internet user. I tried so many new types of food, but of course being right there in the heart of SEAFOOD & FISH I loved it...always been my favorite, but the salmon, was spectacular so much better than Atlantic Salmon, & the Dungeness Crab OMG was awesome..... the seafood was very different from the Gulf down my TX, and seafood & fish, were very inexpensive.... unlike TX unless you are living right on the coast fish and seafood here are expensive ad you just can't get Pacific Salmon..by the way... do you know how "Salmon" is pronounced... it is "Sa-mon" no "L" is pronounced in that word...yet TX they said SALMON, WITH THE L I think it's an accent thing in TX. That was always so funny everywhere I went no matter the market, wherever, EVERYONE ASKED ME WHERE I WAS FROM???!!!! They heard the "heavy accent" & actually most people in Seattle really don't have an accent. So my TX accent really stood out... I tired to "lose" it and some of it kind of faded over the 5 years... but it was always evident I was not a born Seattlite... or WA state resident... and I used to get pissed because everyone would tell me it was "charming" Charming hell, I sounded like a "hick"..LOL... so I tried very hard to NOT have that Southern Texas drawl ... and some did not get TX from it they thought I was from Georgia LOL.... one of my dear friends who lived on one of the islands passed away last year & I didn't know it until a few months later...she was incredible.. and that is how I learned how to drive onto the ferries and ride those to the islands... it was such a different "vibe" up there from anywhere also I've been people accepted you exactly as you were... no matter race, color, creed, straight, gay, whatever..none of that mattered in the heart of Seattle... my 1st new position when I got there was an assistant apartment manger right on Capitol Hill which was the pulse of all things and all people... my 1st driving experience up and down those HUGE HILLS in downtown Seattle scared the heck out of me.... I got used to it but for someone who had never driven there it was very daunting at 1st.... J9m gave me my Pug Tazzy our 3rd Xmas together...she was too little when I 1st picked her out..I had to wait 2 weeks and let her get her shots etc..she was so tiny...but smart and got along with the 2 cats we had D-Link and Lightening... it just brings back so may incredible memories of when my life was very different. I always felt had I not moved back to TX, my health may have been better... even though I already had joint issues, and migraines etc... I felt healthier there, stronger, more self reliant... I really feared nothing... it was just a scene that was meant for me...much like parts of CA... Lancaster CA and San Pedro CA where also such amazing places and had especially Lancaster amazing people... I still have a very dear friend in Lancaster; although she married and I don't talk to her much... she used to tease the hell out of me also about my accent... it was so funny... she worked an as office manager for DOCTOR...had NO CLUE WHAT A ""COUNTY BOY" was then she went to work fr the SHERIFF'S OFFICE IN LANCASTER and then she got it... LOL... didn't get a "county seat"...lots of things again I said that were just a part of being from TX... did not "compute" over to CA lingo... in fact I drove from Seattle to Lancaster CA to see her for a week when I had vacation time... actually when I came back to Seattle, I had emails from Jim... Seattle has their own kind of "dating paper"... it was in print and online, and we actually met through it... before ever meeting in person...so I have ad the typical kind of "meetings of guys"...my 1st husband of ll thing I met on the CB radio...LOL... he lived about 2 blocks away but we 1st met on the CB radio...then I had the typical met a guy in a dance hall/bar right in Ennis... then met and married someone from online... I've experienced it all and found out that whether you meet in person randomly, online, on the CB radio and so forth.. it can be amazing and work no matter how you 1st meet...