These Places Raised Me.

Born in Renton, attended Renton Christian School, and even after moving away, kept coming back for church, youth group, friends and family. Renton has been a constant in my life from the very beginning.

I grew up here and graduated from Liberty High School. The drive between Renton and Issaquah looked a whole lot different then, I remember fields where golf courses, neighborhoods and shopping centers eventually appeared. My first real job was just down the road at Coal Creek Chiropractic.

At 18, I got to call a restored turn-of-the-century family home in Ravensdale home for a year. It gave me a glimpse of this area’s history long before I ever thought I’d make a career out of homes.

This is where I bought my very first home and became a homeowner myself. I’ve watched Maple Valley grow tremendously since then, but there are still pieces of the community I remember from those earlier days.

These cities were home during my early adult years. I knew Kent when a night out looked a little different than it does today, and I lived in Covington before much of what we now think of as “Covington” had even arrived.

Homeownership eventually brought me back to the city where my story started, this time purchasing my second home here. By then, I knew Renton through a completely different lens.

Years after my first job in Coal Creek, life brought me back to Newcastle, this time as a resident. It’s one of those funny full-circle places in my story: I knew this area before Newcastle looked much like the Newcastle we know today.

And eventually, home brought me back to Renton once again. I bought a house here for my son and me, and more than five years later, we’re still here, in the city where my story began.