Building Castles in the Sky

The move to Seattle was a deeper discussion than merely relocating. Seattle is a divergence from the patterns we had built as intrinsic to our lifestyle. Decisions about fundamental issues of identity had to be made, for ourselves and within our understanding of who our son is becoming. Seattle is a small city, but a city nonetheless, and the suburbs were created on the illusion that living in a city is anathema to freedom, to health, to property, and to connection with community. Within that illusion, we had come to believe ourselves a part of a greater experiment in how people should live in the modern world, and that we were immune to the costs of doing so.

2022 was a difficult year. We lost a lot. Moving ourselves from the home we had known for 15 years was one of the later losses to grieve and not the worst among the lot. We are still in the process of cleaning up the messes, mourning the losses, processing the traumas, and recouping as much worth as possible from the wreckage. Our son has been growing and maturing as a young man through all of this; as a child born into global economic collapse and an emergence from childhood defined by a pandemic, his losses have been ceaseless. Allan is a continuing point of joy and hope in a time of upheaval. He shows that the will to persevere and to grow through adversity is strong because it must be. There is no choice but to move forward. There is no choice but to leave. Time gives us no option.

Disruptions are thrust upon us or else we must choose them. Our control of those disruptions is found in the anticipation of the possibilities and the navigation of the consequences. Bassic Nerd equates life to rafting down a river: the ride never stops and the rapids will come, but you can see them coming if you look for them; choose your path through the rough places. Those choices are what position you for the space beyond the rapids, where you can recollect yourself and plan for the next. Because there will be a next one, and it might be sooner than you think. That the river has no ultimate destination is not the point: choose your tributary, choose your path, navigate, anticipate, and stay the course to your goal. Redirections, obstacles, hazards, and capsize are part of the journey; don't fight them, flow with them. Seattle is the branching point of our new path, leading us toward that distant castle. The city has been welcoming and calm, with new sights and experiences that have brought us inspiration and friendships. Community remains important, even to people living in cities; fellow residents of our new apartment building, the people at the pin-ball arcades, the singers and regulars at the Hidden Door have all become part of our new lives in the city. Highlands Castle Holdings, LLC is more of an idea than a store, and more of an invitation than an expectation. That we do so now from a lovely apartment in the city rather than a lovely house in the suburbs has not altered our course. The castle of dreams atop that distant high hill still beckons.