I’ve never been very good at goodbyes, so I’m going to keep

I’ve never been very good at goodbyes, so I’m going to keep this as brief as I can.After a little more than a year on the ground here in the PNW, I am shortly going to be taking my leave of Seattle and Seattle Weekly. My reasons are personal, family-related and interesting to no one but those involved, but suffice it to say that had things worked out differently, I would’ve been staying in place for a good long time. I love my gig here. Being paid to write about tacos, cheeseburgers, foie gras, and pie all day? It just don’t get much sweeter than that. I have truly enjoyed every battle, every party, most of my meals, and each small triumph I have experienced in the months I’ve been in this post. A year was not nearly enough time. I barely scratched the surface of what this city has to offer, and can still drive down almost any street and find things that I wish I had time left to try. For those of you who stood in support of what we were doing in the paper and here on Voracious, I’m sorry to be leaving after so short a run. I promise that a suitable successor will be found, that he or she will be fierce and awesome and opinionated and smart, and that things will continue on pretty much unchanged without me. Maybe there won’t be quite so many dick jokes and zombie references, but that’s just a matter of style. Rants, digressions, and weird asides aside, I always took the food in this city seriously–because food deserves no less. And I promise that the next person to sit in this chair will do the same.For you haters? I’m going to miss each and every one of you most of all. You kept things interesting. You stood as proof, for better or for worse, that Seattle has a live and vibrant food scene full of both strong opinions and half-literate dimwits. The best of you made us better by your criticism. And the worst of you? Well, at least your comments always gave us something to laugh about once the drinks hit the tables at the end of the day.If there’s any kind of silver lining to this announcement, it’s that I’ve still got some time left here. I’m not planning on vacating the premises for a few weeks yet, and have no intention of merely running out the clock on my tenure. There will still be reviews. There will still be blog posts. I’ve got some business that needs settling here and a few fights left to pick, so this isn’t goodbye just yet.Soon enough, I’ll be pointing my nose east and doing something I swore I’d never do: Going home again. Soon, but not today.Follow Voracious on Twitter and Facebook.