#OKC2SEA: The Big Move

[CuatrodeMayo]

(I had intended to post this 2 or 3 weeks ago, but in the business of moving, I never got the chance. I'm actually here now in Seattle. Those of you who are friends with me on facebook or follow me on twitter & instagram probably already know this, lol.)

When I graduated from OSU it was my intention to leave the state for a while. My wife and I had both grown up in Oklahoma and lived here our entire lives to that point. Our desire was to live and work in a large city, particularly, NYC. Since it was 2008, the recession was just beginning and most east coast architecture firms were not in expansion mode. As a result thee few interviews I landed didn’t pan out.

In light of the impending economic downturn, I decided to stay in Oklahoma City.

Admittedly, I was not entirely thrilled with being “stuck” in OKC, but I resolved to make the best of it. In the time I have been here I have experienced first-hand the dramatic transformation of our downtown including the first significant skyline addition in my lifetime. I have witnessed the arrival of the NBA and the way it has brought the people of this city together. I have seen districts come alive and inner-city neighborhoods make a come-back. I have even had the opportunity to participate in the shaping of our city through Better Block, the boulevard conversation, and this site.

Back in the fall, my wife and I began to discuss the possibility of revisiting our original plan of living and working in a larger city. We both love OKC and have enjoyed our time there, but we knew if we didn't pull the trigger now, we never would. So after the first of the year, we decided we would move to Seattle. I took a job with a large, retail-oriented architecture firm in Seattle and we are moving at the end of April. We do plan on returning someday (all of our families are in Oklahoma), but I'm not sure when. For now, we are calling the Pacific northwest our home.

[Pete]

Please keep us posted on your adventures. Do you plan to connect with Sid in the near future?

As I've said many times since I moved away, sometimes you can do just as much or more for a city by living elsewhere. You can be an ambassador and introduce new ideas and perspective; even if you never move back.

I personally know how hard it is to leave the only place you've ever lived and to disrupt a comfortable life in exchange for a lot of change and uncertainty. But of course, it was totally worth it for me and the whole experience has only deepened my love of Oklahoma.

[Zuplar]

The real question here, are you going to wear Thunder gear there?

[CuatrodeMayo]

Lol. I'm sticking with OSU gear for now. My wife wanted to fly a Thunder car flag on our way into the city, But I convinced her not to. I'm not quite ready to buy new tires...

[Pete]

Lol. I'm sticking with OSU gear for now. My wife wanted to fly a Thunder car flag on our way into the city, But I convinced her not to. I'm not quite ready to buy new tires...

As you probably already know, OSU and orange and black up there mean Oregon State.

[Of Sound Mind]

Maybe you could help some in that city finally move on... like the Seattle TV station refusing to say "Oklahoma City" or "Thunder" in its coverage of the NBA playoffs.

[Zuplar]

Maybe you could help some in that city finally move on... like the Seattle TV station refusing to say "Oklahoma City" or "Thunder" in its coverage of the NBA playoffs.

What a bunch of tards.

[adaniel]

Congrats on the new job! If you can deal with the weather and distance, the Pacific Northwest is absolute jewel. Seattle also seems to be growing at a good clip. I bet you’ll have plenty of work. Given how hard I found it just to move myself 200 miles away, you have my full respect for having to move a family across the country.

I’ll just speak from my experiences. I relocated about a month and a half ago to Dallas. Like you, I grudgingly agreed to stay in OKC when I graduated in 2009 only to really fall in love with the city. So it was not an easy move. In some respects, I am not feeling DFW. But my new job is wonderful and I have already met some really great people here. My financial situation, while not bad in OKC, has definitely improved as well. I can say in my experience the change in scenery has been good. Now that I look back on it I was starting to stagnate in many ways—has nothing to do with OKC but rather just stuck in a “life rut”. Sometimes it takes something dramatic like a move to shake you out of it.

I would like to move back to OKC and may do so as soon as 2-3 years from now, but the shale boom means I can pretty much live anywhere instead of just limited to 3 or 4 cities. So I may just make one more pit stop along the way. And if I’ve learned anything in this process its don’t make hard plans about what you will and won’t do because you never know what God/fate/karma/etc. has in store for you.

Wear your Thunder gear loud and proud! I have no problem waving my OU pride in front of these Texas people. Yep I am slowly become one of those people. I tend to agree with Pete that me moving away has actually made me love OKC even more.

[Teo9969]

Congrats and enjoy it.

Just make sure you stay involved here.

[White Peacock]

Enjoy the Northwest, and heed my advice: STAY THERE!

If you move back to Oklahoma after living in the PNW, you will immediately regret it, and the sting won't go away. I sure regretted it after moving back here from Portland. You're in a goddamn temperate rain forest, where the grass is always green, Douglas fir trees tower overhead everywhere you go, you're surrounded by mountains, the Pacific Ocean is a stone's throw away, and the culture is as rich as can be. Enjoy it, and don't take it for granted. For as far as OKC has come, and it really has come a long way, it's barely a speck in the shadow of cities whose evolution came about organically over time.

[Celebrator]

Enjoy the Northwest, and heed my advice: STAY THERE!

If you move back to Oklahoma after living in the PNW, you will immediately regret it, and the sting won't go away. I sure regretted it after moving back here from Portland. You're in a goddamn temperate rain forest, where the grass is always green, Douglas fir trees tower overhead everywhere you go, you're surrounded by mountains, the Pacific Ocean is a stone's throw away, and the culture is as rich as can be. Enjoy it, and don't take it for granted. For as far as OKC has come, and it really has come a long way, it's barely a speck in the shadow of cities whose evolution came about organically over time.

Heed MY advice: BLOOM WHERE YOU'RE PLANTED. Your only true home is your own thinking.

[Pete]

Enjoy the Northwest, and heed my advice: STAY THERE!

If you move back to Oklahoma after living in the PNW, you will immediately regret it, and the sting won't go away. I sure regretted it after moving back here from Portland. You're in a goddamn temperate rain forest, where the grass is always green, Douglas fir trees tower overhead everywhere you go, you're surrounded by mountains, the Pacific Ocean is a stone's throw away, and the culture is as rich as can be. Enjoy it, and don't take it for granted. For as far as OKC has come, and it really has come a long way, it's barely a speck in the shadow of cities whose evolution came about organically over time.

Honest question: If you feel so strongly, why don't you move back?

[Of Sound Mind]

Honest question: If you feel so strongly, why don't you move back?

I would pose the same question to bchris...

[bchris02]

I would pose the same question to bchris...

Good question. If I had my way I would be back in the QC tomorrow but it isn't that easy. It's so easy to say to people "If you don't like it here, I-35 and I-40 go both directions" but most of the time more goes into where they call home and why than simply where they would ideally like to be. There are things like finances, employment, family, roots, etc than can prevent one from simply packing up and leaving. I would assume the situation is similar for White Peacock. Bloom where you are planted is good advice. I would like to add this thought to that though - some plants are harder to grow in certain climates than others.

[TheTravellers]

Good question. If I had my way I would be back in the QC tomorrow but it isn't that easy. It's so easy to say to people "If you don't like it here, I-35 and I-40 go both directions" but most of the time more goes into where they call home and why than simply where they would ideally like to be. There are things like finances, employment, family, roots, etc than can prevent one from simply packing up and leaving. I would assume the situation is similar for White Peacock. Bloom where you are planted is good advice. I would like to add this thought to that though - some plants are harder to grow in certain climates than others.

I lived here from 1965-1995, lived in WI, IN, IL, and WA (mainly IL) from 1995-2009, then here from 2009-present. I left OKC as soon as I was able, I never wanted to come back, but could not find a job in Seattle, St. Louis, Phoenix, or Kansas City while my unemployment benefits were running out. Wife couldn't find a job in Seattle at all (this was right when the economy started failing). A month before my benefits ran out, a contract job came up in OKC, pretty much had to take it, no other prospects. I would love to leave again, but it literally cost us about $10,000 each time we moved from one state to another, and the last 2 times we had to pay for it all ourselves. We do not like it here at all, for reasons which are pretty obvious, but we just can't "leave if you don't like it", we don't have an extra $10,000+ to do it again, we're not in our 20s (or even 30s), it takes a toll physically, mentally, and fiscally to move a long distance, and while I would dearly love to get to a state that isn't in the bottom 10% of good things and top 10% of bad things, we're pretty much stuck here. Things have gotten better over the past 10-15 years, and will continue to do so, but it'll probably take longer than my lifetime to get OK up to a standard that I'd consider acceptable. Blooming where you're planted isn't going to work well if the fertilizer they're pouring on you is toxic to you, and for all of you saying "if you don't like it, leave", just stop saying it, it's not that easy.

[Urbanized]

Wow. Yeah, you definitely should leave OKC at your earliest opportunity.

[bchris02]

White Peacock has a point. Some people move away to greener pastures, get homesick and move back only to severely regret it. To the OP, best of luck in Seattle!

[BrettM2]

White Peacock has a point.

Shocker...

[Dennis Heaton]

I have family in Issaquah, Renton and Port Angeles. Definitely take advantage of the many different River Cruises in Washington. Enjoy!

[betts]

For some of us, the weather in the PNW is the major disqualifying point. Everytime I've been there, I am reminded of why we don't live there, as we almost moved there once. A 2 week vacation there changed our mind rather quickly. What's appealing to one is offputting to another.

The only months I hate the weather here are July and August. With kids fairly firmly planted in Chicago and San Francisco, when I'm not working during those 2 months I'm in one of those 2 cities, which have glorious summers. I really enjoy living in Oklahoma City and watching it grow. And I have 2 great cities to visit when the weather is intolerable. Best of both worlds!

[CuatrodeMayo]

For some of us, the weather in the PNW is the major disqualifying point. Everytime I've been there, I am reminded of why we don't live there, as we almost moved there once. A 2 week vacation there changed our mind rather quickly. What's appealing to one is offputting to another.

The weather can be depressing, no doubt...but when it's nice...it's amazing.

This is from my desk this morning:

[betts]

The weather can be depressing, no doubt...but when it's nice...it's amazing.

But that's true here as well and for a sunshine lover like me, the good days here outnumber the bad. I grew up with grey and fell in love with sunny skies when I moved away.

[Plutonic Panda]

The weather can be depressing, no doubt...but when it's nice...it's amazing.

This is from my desk this morning:

Holy crap. That is absolutely beautiful! That's some serious density right there.

[White Peacock]

The "if you don't like it, GTFO" attitude is reactionary and short-sighted. Of course I'd rather be chilling in the Cascades than sweating in the Plains, but it's not so easy to pack up and move your life across the country when you're grown up. I was 24 when I went to Oregon, and I had nothing to tie me down. No debt, nothing to unload, I just filled my car with boxes and moved. Now I have a home (mortgage), a wife, and a daughter. Uprooting at this point requires a great deal of careful planning to avoid ending up in dire straits.

So we'll be stuck here for several years yet. For all I know, we'll never get out, and that's just fine as well. I make do regardless of location, and it's not like I'm just sitting and stewing. I was just sharing my experience with CuatrodeMayo as some words to chew on in case he gets the homesick itch.

[Cid]

The "if you don't like it, GTFO" attitude is reactionary and short-sighted.

I didn't take the question like that. Here it is again:

Quote Originally Posted by Pete
Honest question: If you feel so strongly, why don't you move back?

Is it possible this was just a question, and not reactionary at all?