Video of Ralph & Jen Havens click here.
I get asked quite a bit, “why did you move to Bellingham, WA?” People here ask me when we say we moved from San Diego and a lot of our friends and clients are asking us that we know back in San Diego.
When we tell the Bellingham people they nod in understanding. Many of the people here moved from Southern California and other parts of the country and world. They understand the magic of Bellingham. The San Diego people seem puzzled about why we would leave “paradise”; you now perfect 70 to 80 degree weather, sandy beaches, etc, etc.
I went on a run today with a great group of runners from the Bellingham Trail Running Club. We started in about 50 degrees and light drizzle and ran thru partly cloudy, cool conditions up the LookOut Mountain Trail. I know why they call it lookout! It’s a big climb! LookOut!. Also the views are spectacular although I only made it near the top. Gotta get in shape to run with these folks! But man was it a blast; great people great trails great town.
When I was a teenager growing up in West Texas, Del Rio actually, I used to get Track & Field News. I love track and field and love running. One day when a copy came, it had Alberto Salazar and Henry Rono on the cover running among lots of trees. Al was from U. of Oregon and Henry was from Kenya and Washington State University. Right then, I decided I would live in Washington by the forest.
I kept thinking I would live by a forest but life took me to San Diego where I started a successful Physical Therapy practice, Mission Hills Physical Therapy, bought a house in Mission Hills and had a good life. But I kept feeling like I was to live by the forest.
The universe has a way of conspiring to help you when you make a decision and I had made the decision to live in Washington State as a teenager. It came in with lots of emotion and a knowingness. But then I put it all aside. But it kept coming into my awareness.
My life took a funny turn in 2011 when San Diego started putting Fluoride into the water supply. My health took a big hit and I wrote about it here. THis I believe was a miracle. The universe was telling me to get the Hell out of San Diego and go Do what I want to Do!
So Jen, my wife and I looked and looked; we shut down our Physical Therapy Practice in San Diego and looked all over Oregon; Ashland, Eugene, Portland but didn’t find our spot. Then we heard about Bellingham. As soon as we got here, we realized we were home. Now as I talk to Bellingham people about why we moved, I get a lot of stories of how many of them looked and looked and had to move to Bellingham. There is a saying here, “if you visit Bellingham, you will live here at some time in your life” The call it the City of Subdued Excitement. People really care here; truly care about themselves, their families, their community.
I’ve never seen this before in a city. A lot of people here are following their Heart’s Desires. Many move here first and then figure out what to do here. We moved because I had to move; I was to live by a forest. Now we’re by Mt. Baker & Snoqualmie National Forest.
Here’s a story of a guy from San Diego who Did what he Wanted to Do but stayed in San Diego. Tuning into and listening and then following the universes leads was what got me to Bellingham, Wa. Let me know what you all notice and what you’re Heart is telling you. I love t hear the stories of what people are doing and what they went through in order to get on with their life here on Earth. Ralph Havens
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