My Hometown - South Seattle

I grew up in the South end of Seattle right in the middle of Burien, Sea-Tac, and Tukwila with my enormous close-knit extended family. In fact, our home was just a stone’s throw and engine roar away from Sea-Tac Airport.  My immediate family lived together here for about 20 years, with some of my extended family members living only 5 blocks away from us.  Good times, crazy cousins!

Growing up, my relatives’ favorite place to spend free time was  Seward Park where we spent many summer evenings playing volleyball and barbecuing on the grass.  We were there so much that one day we received a visit from the Seattle Parks Department kindly stating that although “they loved having us come out and play, might we move the volleyball net from day to day  because we were killing the grass!” It was pretty funny.

There are a couple new things happening in South Seattle these days.  The first is the new Westfield Southcenter Mall which will encompass 1.7 million square-feet and be the largest shopping center in the Pacific Northwest.  The second is the new Link Light Rail Project scheduled to start in 2009. The project will be completed in two stages and eventually include 15 miles of light rail transportation. Many traffic-hating Seattleites (including myself) are pretty excited about this.

After living in South Seattle for more than 20 years and graduating from college, I decided to leave town for a bit and join AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) in Visalia, CA . Today, my family and I are actually back in Seattle due to new job opportunities, but California will always be my second home.  In the meantime, we are actually living in the same house I lived in for 20 years with my parents as we look to purchase a new home. What a full circle move for my family, and our ties to South Seattle!