The transformation is complete.

I am sitting in Starbucks downtown, sipping a tall pumpkin spice latte, wearing a fair-trade wool sweater, Calvin Klein jeans, second-hand Birks, hennaed hair, and typing on my laptop. I probably no longer look like a rural North Dakotan, rather an urban Inland-Northwesterner. And essentially, that is what I now am.

And although I love my home, this is what I've wanted since the first time I visited Spokane at the age of seven. I've longed for the Northwest for a long time. I grew up loving the plains, but adoring Ponderosa pine trees (because of what they represented to me: Washington and my cousins), I've always loved all things Northwestern, liberal, independent, and coffee-house related. I dreamed of writing songs and playing them on my guitar in some little coffee house filled with guys with long hair and short-haired women, multi-colored chairs, art on the wall and an espresso machine whirring in the background. I wanted to get Mehndi tattoos on my hands and feet (I have the leftover henna paste from my hair in the fridge waiting until I have the time.) I've always loved hiking and held a special place in my heart for the Rocky Mountains. (Yes, I realize I'm a bit west of them now.) "Grassroots," "left-wing" "organic" "green" "hippie" and "granola" have always been, and still are, good words in my mind. My trips to Washington throughout my life have always left me feeling refreshed and renewed with an inner sense of "Oh yeah. I'm NOT the only one in the world who thinks the way I do. Being liberal isn't a sin after all!!!" I've wanted to move out here for as long as I can remember and now that I'm in Spokane, I hope to stay awhile...and maybe eventually go even further west! (Spokane is a great city to live in...but Seattle is even bigger and more "left"....quite literally left if you're looking at a map. ) I am in the Northwest and it is good. I have been assimilated.