Beautiful Day in Portland
I am a city person; Janette, a suburban person. Pre-kids, in my retail management wanderings, we experimented with both.
Me: Great place! Everything on tap: concerts, great delis, noise, huge vinyl record stores, quirky boutiques, the Sunset Strip, hey, is that Joe Pesci?, movie premieres. What more could you want?
Janette (my interpretation): Near to Robert's work, but not really big on the shady organization running our apartment, the cockroach that took 3 hits of Robert's shoe to kill, the tagging in the elevator, the all-night ladies hanging out at Kinko's while I'm finishing up an art project, and that whole lack-of-safety-feeling thing.
Me: Eh, not a city. Kind of close to Los Angeles, but still takes an hour and half with traffic to get there. Park Pantry and The Library (cafe) are cool, though.
Janette: Nice neighborhood (as long as you don't stray two blocks over). Can walk around a bit. Close to shopping, Barnes and Noble, and CSU Long Beach.
Post-kids, we've agreed to a compromise: live in the suburbs, but locate within a half hour or less of a major city. We have access to all the museums & big ticket attractions we want to visit, and we get to come home to the relative quiet and convenience of the suburbs afterward. Day-to-day, this compromise works well, but I am still a city person at heart. Every so often, I need to indulge my inner City Geek.
Today was that day. I boarded the Max train at 6:20am to head into Portland for a wonderful All-In Inclusion conference (more on that in the next blog). Coffee mug (always) in hand, wearing a light coat, I bounced down to the Max station. The birds were singing. One of the two ticket machines was actually working. The train arrived within five minutes of me reaching the station. It was a beautiful start to a beautiful day.
On the ride in, I lounged in my newspaper. The train car was half empty, so I could expand the paper fully. I flipped it down, folded it, half-page, to focus on a feature. I glanced at the Business headlines. Tripple camel flip: the Business section popped effortlessly behind the Living section. The comics invitied me in. It was good.
The train arrived downtown, and I departed at 10th/Library and walked up the block a bit. Nordstrom was closed as were most of the shops, but the Saturday bustle had begun. People were starting to move about. A bistro had construction workers replacing a sink. A tall man with a long pole was poking at letters on the ground to change a theater marque. The city was breathing, keeping time with my steps as I turned the corner and walked slowly uphill toward Portland State.
On campus, the Saturday Farmers' Market was stirring. People popped open their tents and emptied the backs of their pickups and vans. Vendors chatted with each other as they loaded their tables, checked their scales, and sipped their coffees.
-- Dad
