Home Sweet Home
Ahhh Portland, we have missed you. You are delightfully weird, can be incredibly cheap (unless in contrast to mexico and central america...not counting costa rica), and your aesthetic familiarity feels good. Your streets are filled with beautiful and strange and interesting people, and there are about a zillion places, old and new, that we want to experience within your city. It wasnt easy to get here though. From Costa it was a full day of travel and seemed like we should have simply flown to southeast asia or new zealand for our hours in the air. We packed up 6months worth of stuff (some of which wont go back to the bus with us) into a box no bigger than a carry-on suitcase. Amazing that we used to take two carry-ons for a weekend trip not so long ago. Karma was a real trooper in her new (to us) kennel and was SO excited to see us during the layover, but weve vowed to try and find a way for her to not have to put up with such a long flying day again. Were uncomfortable enough on that long of a day in a airplane seat....cant imagine spending it in a box. argh.
Brock was kind enough to pick us up at the airport, complete with sign... and the good that started that moment has continued for our days here thus far.
We have been back in Ptown for a few days now, and we are freezing our butts off. Its friggin cold here. not to everyone, just to us. I look around and everyone else is basking in the sun as though its the warmest they’ve been in months (and i think it actually is) but we are shivering.
I was worried how claustrophobic i would feel all wrapped up in the confines of modern society (y’know, shirts)...but instead im layering up and even picked up a light jacket from the buffalo exchange, a local 2nd hand clothing store. c’mon man, bring on the warmer temps.
The last few days have been quite busy, filled with friends, family, and more friends. Lots of hugs being tossed, and lots of catching up. Meeting babies that were born while we were gone and seeing our friend’s kids that have been growing so fast. Its awesome to have some face time with those we love, and be able to talk deeper than has been possible over skype and email and the distance. Everyone has dreams and aspirations, everyone is working towards something or has a ton going on right now. We are soaking them up and hearing about their lives. Problem is- everyone wants to talk about us and all we want is to hear more about whats going on with them. Evenings of sipping cocktails and chatting into the late night turn into slumber parties as we crash in their spare rooms and karma on their spare dog bed.
We have been been busy getting ourselves reconnected with cell phones, internet, mail, etc. Every experience is a bit of culture shock and we easily realize that we have some work to do getting used to our new surroundings. Even though Portland is quite laid back, things move a bit quicker here than on the remote beaches of mexico and central america that have been our home for the last little while. Street lights and merging into traffic are such interesting feelings. We’ve seen traffic lights throughout our drive, but you weren’t really supposed to pay attention to them. Here it seems like it might be important...weird. Finding a place to park, waiting in line at the grocery store, talking to customer service are all totally normal parts of life. They just haven’t been part of our normal life lately. And it’s taking some getting used to.
Upon our return, a few of our friends guessed that we were returning to Portland because we were pregnant. In fact, the more people we hang out with the more we hear this response...its like they just cant imagine or visualize another reason we would have possibly decided to return. Jen was more than happy to sip a couple glasses of bubbly to prove them wrong each time. It makes us realize that it may be hard for some to understand that we returned to portland simply to be around the people we love in a city we adore. Sounds too simple to be true perhaps. But right now, for us...we couldn’t be happier with that decision and the rewards we are reaping!
I guess its fair to say that we are having a blast and looking forward to the upcoming weeks and as for now we can confidently say, there is no place we would rather be then right here, right now. And now... we are off to a happy hour with good friends! Perfect!
