Shall I address the elephant in the room?  Not that any of you out there actually got super invested in my posts, but it’s been a minute, huh?  Well, I have an excuse.  I moved for a promotion in 2019 and left the comfort of our home in Montana for the state of Washington.  Promotion meant more responsibilities and more hours each day spent working, plus I’ve been super busy exploring my new home.  Plus covid-19.  But it’s time.  It’s time to return.  Ironically enough, where I left off was a trip to the state that is now my new home.  I have a lot to catch up on! 

Now let’s talk about regrets.  Maybe it’s because I’m young(-ish.  At what age do you stop being a naïve fool? Asking for a friend), but I genuinely don’t believe people when they say they have no regrets.  I get the sentiment that your previous choices lead you to where you are now and by saying you have regrets you’re essentially admitting that you wish you were somewhere else.  However, I believe there are inconsequential decisions in everyone’s life that don’t have some crazy butterfly effect on your life path, and there’s no doubt you wish you’d made some of those decisions differently.  Like that time when teenage angst was at an all time high and you were super rude to your parents.  Or a time when you let a friend drift away.  Or when you took that extra shot at the bar when you certainly didn’t need an extra shot at the bar.  Or even that guy you dated for a minute because, well, why again?  None of these theoretical poor choices (that I definitely have never made…) would have changed where I am today and I fully believe that.  Still, though, I wish I would have changed my actions in those examples because in the moment I was an idiot.  Theoretically.  But all the regrettable decisions in my life pale in comparison to one- the fact that I didn’t sit in a club level seat until the 44th game Joel and I saw together.
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I’m pleading ignorance on this.  When I would go to buy tickets for a game, I would always try to be as close to the field or court as possible while still staying within my budget.  I never understood why second or third level tickets would be more expensive than tickets right near the playing surface.  And perhaps Seattle has a bit better club level than others, but to say it changed my whole outlook on buying tickets is not a hyperbole.  Granted, I still love sitting down a baseline close to the field and without a doubt will continue to do so, but when I’m going for a three-game series, you can bet at least one of the games I’ll be sitting club level. 
Game 2 in Seattle was a game of realization and contradictions after another day of tourist-y exploring.  As was par for the course on this trip, Seattle showed us a great time!

Fun fact: Joel and I have yet to go to a soccer game together.  The closest we came was on our Minneapolis trip for the Red Sox series in 2016, but we ended up opting for a nice dinner instead (which after a day of getting roasted in the beating sun was definitely the right choice).  It’s not that we dislike soccer, per se.  In fact, some of our favorite memories of sitting down for a game in a sports bar have been during World Cup or La Liga games.  But I’ve found that soccer fans are a different breed of sports fans that Joel and I just don’t relate to much.  First off, they’re probably going to be mad I’m calling it soccer instead of football, but football to us has touchdowns, not goals.  Second, most soccer fans we’ve met are only soccer fans.  They don’t really care much at all about any other sport.  Granted, there are folks who fall into that boat for every sport, but by and large, when we meet a fan at a basketball game, they’re also baseball fans.  Or folks sitting next to us at hockey games also closely follow their city’s football team.  And clearly, we follow all of the above.  

They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but I’m not sure how much truth there is to that statement, especially when it comes to me and my mom.  She’s awesome- selfless, patient, affectionate- and I’m… not.  She decorates her house for almost every holiday and/or season, and I had a Christmas tree this year for the first time in four years (because she came over and put it up when I was out of town).  Another area where we differ is travel- she has her spots she likes to go to and will go back whenever she gets a chance and won’t fly over water.  I, on the other hand, had a conversation with Joel the other night where we agreed we have a lot of places we need to go before we go back to Boston (which is easily our favorite spot) and am planning a trip to Europe next summer. 
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Taking into account my mother’s travelling preferences, it’s not surprising that a lot of our vacations growing up were to landlocked places we’d repeat, and Seattle was not on the list.  So despite it being a direct flight or a terrible but doable drive, I found myself at 27 years old never having been to the Emerald City, and I probably would have made it to 28 or even beyond if not for my younger sister, Bailey.  She’d traveled with us on our long Boston/New York trip, so I knew she could hang for a trip with Joel and I, and an adventure seemed like a fun gift for her 18th birthday/graduation.  (Remember that note about my mom being selfless?  Yeah, a lot of the gifts I give also involve me doing the gift with them.  I don’t even leave the “no truly selfless act” argument up for debate).  I gave her a few options and thought she would for sure choose concert/Padres game/zoo in San Diego, but she surprised me and opted for a Red Sox series in Seattle.  She’d actually been to Seattle before, but as a baby for a heart surgery, so Joel, a frequent Seattle visitor and reformed Mariners fan, was in for a long weekend with a couple of Seattle newbies!