Something special

Yesterday, I was asked to write something about why my town is special.  There are so many things I love about Seattle, but I chose to write about the absolutely most mundane:  the weather.

" I live in Seattle, a town that by virtue of geography is special. Lakes and ocean and mountains are all within striking distance; the weather is mild, made temperate by large bodies of water with winds muted by both the Olympic and Cascade ranges. It's a place where people are pleased by the sun, or the appearance of Mt. Rainier in a blue sky,or the way Lake Washington sparkles and froths from a floating bridge. I've lived in other places - the hot and humid, the hot and dry, the cold and icy. In those places, whatever their other charms, the weather was generally seen as an enemy during some part of the year. In Seattle, while it's not exactly an ally, it is never nefarious. It's more of an annoying little brother - the one you have to take with you to the movies or to the park because your mom said you had to. There are times you feel affection for him, and there are times you deny his existence and there are times you roll your eyes at his tantrums. But Seattlites don't have to fight him or fear him, not like they do in tornado alley or the Sonoran desert.  It aids equanimity, to be able to let the weather simply fade to background noise. That is special, and I for one like it."