If You Live in Washington, You May Be Taking This for Granted

It's a bit cliche, perhaps the biggest of cliches, but I subscribe to the theory that you don't know what you have until it's gone. You take paradise and... Wait. Alright, what I'm saying is that I think living in Washington has brought me a lot of blessings that I haven't taken the time to truly be thankful for.

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We have certain luxuries that might not be available in other states. For me, personally, one big luxury I haven't been appreciating has been recreational marijuana. We've had it legalized here in Washington for the past eleven years but there are several states where you can't even get it medicinally. I remember a few trips I took to Texas to see my wife's family and being surprised to see zero dispensaries even though I knew I was in Texas. Washington life has been mostly all I know. Something that I do freely and frequently has put other people behind bars. It's kind of a surreal thought.

In Washington, we are a little insulated from natural disasters. That's not to say there's a zero percent chance of a natural disaster, we've had plenty. But we don't have a hurricane season or a tornado season. We mostly just get wildfire madness and the occasional volcanic eruption. Not too bad.

Everybody hates taxes, right? They're unanimously the devil. In Washington, we don't have an income tax. While we do get sales taxes and property taxes, try telling someone from Oregon that it's worse than having an income tax.

As I've mentioned in previous articles, Washington has the freshest apples. Most of the country eats Washington Apples but they're grown here and don't have to ship too far to get into stores. Look, it's not much but it's something I'm sure we all take for granted.

I'll get off my soapbox now.