Dear Boise,

Have I ever told you how much I love you?

There are so many reasons why, I couldn’t truly list them all. But since I’m trying to, I guess I’ll start with the fall.

It was October of 2010 when I first saw brilliant colors blanket this valley, like an autumn carpet rolled out below those stunning foothills. I didn't know I was witnessing only one of your four beautiful seasons. I know now that here in Boise, we get to enjoy them all, in full, year after year – sometimes even in one single day. I've learned that each season is displayed upon those hills like a vast signal. Snow covered and stunning, gleaming green, dry and brown and baking under a hot summer sun, a dazzling fade into fall.

Oh those foothills, how they’ve captured my heart. How they’ve become my compass. Always there to remind me which way is North; always giving me the space to sort my thoughts, one foot after another. The way they soak in the rays of every sunrise and sunset, gleaming pink and fading purple. Those hills – they call out to us, asking us to come play. And we do. We play, we pause, we plod along. The foothills give us time and space, and people respect time spent out there. It's where we can breath, where we can think, where we can just be.

Boise, I love your people. Our ever-growing community, as it has been from the very beginning. There is a happiness that we all share, and it’s because of you. It’s because we are here. We take so much pride in living here and in showing you off to visitors. Someone once told me that they thought there was a giant magnet under Boise, drawing curious and kind people to it. You make everyone who sets foot here love you. The almost daily sunshine helps, too.

Boise, you are a city for the dreamers and the doers. Potential is palpable here. Boise is a place where you can chase your dreams, pave your way. It’s where you can start something new; where you can begin again. Endings are beginnings, after all.

Boise is the place to be whoever you want to be, to do whatever you want to do. It’s where artists shape neighborhoods. It's where you can start a business and be met with interest and excitement. It's where you can start fresh without erasing your past. It's where you can share food, grow food, enjoy food. It's where criminals fall in love with cats and people go out of their way to help dogs.

Boise is a place where you can have real impact. You can play an active role in shaping our city. You can start a festival, open a new restaurant, join a club, make a new friend, meet someone who is totally unlike you, meet someone who is totally like you, start a garden, try a sport, camp under the stars, be on the radio, paint a mural, run for office, or dream up a newsletter all about Boise.

This way of life in Boise… it’s so easy, you know? We are so lucky – so, so lucky – to live in a place that we love. We live in a place where the living is good. We get to live this Boise life; a life of fun, sun, fresh air, and endless ways to exist. And we get to share it with each other. How wonderful is that?

Boise, it’s impossible to pick just one thing to love about you. But if I had to, it would be this: ordinary life is so good here. We have fun. We have freedom. We aren't tethered to traffic or bound to being busy. Boise offers all of us constant reminders to get out of our heads and into our hearts, to put our feet on the ground, to look up and around. Boise reminds us to be here, now. It’s the birds singing in your backyard, gleaming foothills on your drive home, a pleasant stranger, weekend plans, deep breaths of Boise air.

Boise is alive, and in return, it makes us more alive too. We are all just here living our individual lives, yet together we make the Boise life.

While I don’t know what Boise life looks like for you, but I am pretty sure that Boise loves you, too.

With love from Boise,

Marissa

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