By Stephen Buller
Where do a Michigan farm girl and a Detroit city boy go to start a family? For my parents, the answer was Vashon. I was a baby on the go, born in New Hampshire, moved to a Decatur, Michigan farm shortly thereafter, and made my way to Vashon by the time I was six months old.
When dad started work at Boeing in the 80s, mom wanted space to farm, and neither knew just how much more Vashon had to offer. My childhood was full of contrast, raising chicks and learning what makes a nettle sting feel better one day, going into Seattle to get the latest Nintendo game the next.
Growing up, people said the Island was a black hole: If you don’t leave after high school, you may never escape! So, I left for college and career. I went to business school and became a CPA, and I exercised the wanderlust implanted in me as an infant, travelling whenever work or fun allowed.
But nothing can truly escape a black hole … After 18 years on the Island, it only took another 18 for Vashon to pull me back. My now wife is from Rockport, Massachusetts, another small, Island town. We moved from Tacoma to Saco, Maine when our first-born was six months old – funny how history rhymes, isn’t it? We wanted an adventure; we got lockdowns. The pandemic hit shortly after we arrived, and the state of Maine has been (unfairly) blacklisted ever since.
I don’t remember exactly how we decided to come back to the Island, but I remember thinking – as I often do these days – that maybe my parents knew something I didn’t. Vashon is such a peaceful, beautiful place to raise a family. Surrounded by sea and mountains, lush green everywhere, and a dense town you can easily cover on foot. I see people I know wherever I go, and the community Vashon has to offer is rare.
My wife is a naturopathic doctor, and I’m an accountant. We run our own businesses and embrace both the small town and the modern age we live in. We can create Island jobs and bring revenue from afar. We can have Island clients and learn cutting-edge treatments. We can use technology as a tool for prosperity, while keeping our roots in nature and community.
Vashon is a microcosm of America. People with different views can coexist and sometimes even learn from each other. Growing up here taught me there’s more than one way of doing a thing, and what works for one person may not for another. Fortunately, anything you can’t find on the Island or online can be found a ferry ride away to the big city – God forbid you have to make the trip.
