When we got married, I made a deal with my wife that if she followed me around wherever the military sent me, then when it was time for me to leave the military, we could settle down wherever she wanted. For almost 15 years we traveled around the country and looked at towns and places we thought might be interesting places to eventually settle. We decided fairly quickly that we wanted to live in the Puget Sound area to be near family, so we looked from Port Orchard to Port Angeles, and from Camano Island to Samish Island and the San Juans. We eventually decided that Whidbey Island had the best combination of small-town atmosphere, island living, and easy access to the mainland that we were looking for. One of the important factors for us was to live somewhere in the Olympic Rainshadow, and Whidbey Island is right in the center. Our decision to chose Whidbey Island proved to be perfect for our family. The place that a person or family choses to live is always a compromise -- between the occasionally conficting challenges of finding a lifestyle that suits your needs and desires, and being able to make a living (or retire economically). I enjoy telling people the story of how we came to live on Whidbey Island, because some of the questions we had to answer along the way may be helpful to other people who are facing similar questions.

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