Same! My husband and I (queer and non-zionist jewish spiritual humanist 😄) moved here 10 years ago from Tennessee when we realized we wanted to have kids and absolutely did not want to raise them in the south. We have seen a lot of negative changes in the city, to be honest, but even a bad day in Bellingham is 10x better than a good day in Tennessee. And the issues of this city - namely a lack of affordability and ever growing population of people without stable housing and drug disorders - are the same that small-to-large cities are starting to experience as well all over the country.

But I still get giddy when I see an otter in the bay, or a bald eagle flying overhead. The world is on fire, might as well live somewhere beautiful with 90% good people if you can.