Hurrah for Tacoma!

Our family moved to Tacoma, Washington in September, 1942. Dad got a job in the Todd shipyards. The City was full of hustle and bustle. Military bases meant people on the move, some saying "goodbye," never to be seen again. Sexual mores were relaxing. Women were going to work. Black people were moving to Pacific northwest. Japanese Americans from the nearby fertile Puyallup Valley were rounded up and sent to Internment camps. There was plenty of crime. And for our family, Lutherans were cooperating to build an educational system which would forever change my life.
Through the years, Tacoma has suffered from being Seattle's little sister.
Even now, they get a disproportionate number of Seattle's felons. The recent novel, The King of Methlehem is well written clear eyed view of current meth problems. (But who doesn't have a meth epidemic?)
I'm not sure when it happened. It think it was some time after my brother's stoke in 1995 which had us coming back to Tacoma frequently. But Tacoma had a rebirth. The downtown area around Union Station hosts the Tacoma Art Museum and other great attractions.
The Museum was the first stop on our 45th Wedding Anniversary tour. The Quilts of Gee's Bend are a current major attraction. The glass art of Dale Cihuly abounds. If you ask at the desk, you can get a free pass to take pictures of his art to your heart's content. Hurrah for Tacoma!