It's a strange thing that I can't really explain. And I'm not sure anybody would really understand it unless they had lived in a country other than the one in which they were born, and for an extended period of time.

Last time I went back to Denmark I distinctly remember sitting in the backyard at my aunt's house and thinking to myself "I am OF this place but I don't belong IN this place." Similarly, when I am here in western Washington I find myself thinking I am "not OF this place but I belong IN this place."

The power of place is strong. When I moved from Texas to here in Washington state back in 2006 part of my motivation was that I never found a sense of belonging in Texas. This, in spite of the fact that I had lived there for over 20 years. Some of it had to do with that very thing you were talking about Summers and Winters not being that different somehow and it felt "wrong" in a way I can't quite characterize.

I still ponder the fact that it was ultimately the geography that made a bigger difference than the culture or the people or the friends or the work.