#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?

[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.

[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.

[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.

[Teo9969]

Congrats and enjoy it.

Just make sure you stay involved here.

[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.

[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.

[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!

[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.

[BrettM2]

White Peacock has a point.

Shocker...

[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?

[Dennis Heaton]

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

[Of Sound Mind]

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

I would pose the same question to bchris...

[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!

[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.

[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?

[Urbanized]

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.

No, seriously. Life's too short to be that kind of miserable. If I disliked a place that much, I'd make a plan and leave. Simpler than you're making it out to be.

[Pete]

Thanks for the honest answers.

But it also has to be said that the appeal of a city is based on much more than the terrain and amenities. If those were the only criteria almost everyone would live in California or Vermont.

A huge factor is cost of living -- and ease of living. Too many people in Oklahoma take that for granted, not realizing (or forgetting) that to live in these places that seem highly desirable on the surface, there are lots and lots of real world trade offs. Not only expense (by several orders, not just a small fraction) but crime and schools and traffic and work hours and unfriendly people and the transient nature of everything and everyone, and the inability to make any type of meaningful difference...

Absolutely nobody loves Southern California more than I do. Yet, I am getting closer to moving back to OKC because the trade offs become less and less worth it to me. I work ridiculous hours and spend a huge chunk of my free time on the freeway. I go months without seeing some of my closest friends because they have the same constraints. I am one of the very few in my social circle who actually owns a home and it's very modest by OK standards, yet the weight of the mortgage often feels crushing; and renting is even more expensive.

It makes total sense that younger people would want to move to a bigger, more interesting city... But it also makes total sense that they would eventually want to come back for all the reasons listed here, plus the strong draw of home.

[Of Sound Mind]

Thanks for the honest answers.

But it also has to be said that the appeal of a city is based on much more than the terrain and amenities. If those were the only criteria almost everyone would live in California or Vermont.

A huge factor is cost of living -- and ease of living. Too many people in Oklahoma take that for granted, not realizing (or forgetting) that to live in these places that seem highly desirable on the surface, there are lots and lots of real world trade offs. Not only expense (by several orders, not just a small fraction) but crime and schools and traffic and work hours and unfriendly people and the transient nature of everything and everyone, and the inability to make any type of meaningful difference...

Absolutely nobody loves Southern California more than I do. Yet, I am getting closer to moving back to OKC because the trade offs become less and less worth it to me. I work ridiculous hours and spend a huge chunk of my free time on the freeway. I go months without seeing some of my closest friends because they have the same constraints. I am one of the very few in my social circle who actually owns a home and it's very modest by OK standards, yet the weight of the mortgage often feels crushing; and renting is even more expensive.

It makes total sense that younger people would want to move to a bigger, more interesting city... But it also makes total sense that they would eventually want to come back for all the reasons listed here, plus the strong draw of home.

Awesome perspective, Pete!

[Urbanized]

For the record, the PNW (specifically Oregon) is one of the few places where I would locate tomorrow if the right job came calling (it won't). I would also put NYC on the list. But that has zip to do with being dissatisfied with OKC. I would (and probably will) live here happily the rest of my life. If I didn't like it, I would move. Period, end of story. Living someplace that makes you miserable (and prompts you to make others miserable by constantly telling them how miserable your common home makes you) is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary.