orca’s island

I’m on the ferry back from Orca’s Island near Seattle. 

Since I read that New York Times article spotlighting Orca’s Island, I have been longing for the possibility of coming to Orca’s Island and curing my loneliness. I’ve had money to come here for a long time, but I didn’t do so until now. What finally pushed me was a $283 flight credit I received from American Airlines for a trip I canceled earlier this year. My time in San Francisco is ending, and I don’t know when it will be next when I am in this close proximity to Seattle again, so I finally did it. It’s been almost a decade since I have read that article, and my loneliness has gotten better over that decade, but it’s still there. I was hoping that coming to Orca’s Island would finally cure my loneliness, but it did not.

Orca’s Island is located off the coast of Anacortes, which is a two-hour drive from Seattle. I spent the past day in Seattle before staying in a Marriott in Birmingham. It has been intermittently raining all weekend, which makes sense why a company like Starbucks would be founded here. The weather really just wants to make you go inside and sip coffee. I am quite tired since I had to wake up early both days to fly and to take the ferry, and I’ve been anxious about making a business school interview on Monday. I was appropriately dressed for the weather, but it is still cold. I was thinking about whether I liked Seattle or SF more, and I can’t really make up my mind. It’s certainly cheaper in Seattle, but I’m not sure I like the rain as much as I would’ve thought. At the end of the day, I only want to lean so much into my melancholy.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I wanted to do in my life on this trip. I’ve been so caught up with studying for the GRE and applying to MBA programs and transitioning into a new role that I haven’t had much time to travel. I will have a lot of time to travel in a little bit, but I still have so much uncertainty for my future. I have ideas of what I want to do, but I’m still uncertain on how much I am willing to sacrifice, how much risk am I willing to accumulate, what am I willing to put on in the pursuit of my truest form.