Random observations from Portland

So I'm in Portland for the weekend - alone.  Why Portland and why now you ask? Well, here's the deal - I was getting a healing touch treatment a while back and we were working on letting go of the past.  And while I'm laying there, trying to move into the present, I start planning this trip in my head.  A trip where I ... go revisit my past.  lol  Seriously.  I know, right?  wth??  So, I realized what I was doing, and decided I would in fact take a trip, but I would take myself someplace I have never been, create a new experience, a new memory.  And Portland just popped into my head, unbidden.  I found a trip on Expedia for $500, air and hotel for 3 nights, so I booked it.  And here I am, adventurous free spirit, exploring a city I have never been to, in the winter, on my own.  Yeah, I'm just kooky like that.

So Portland is a pretty cool city from what I can see so far.  I know I am not seeing it in it's best light because of the weather (cold, dreary and rainy), but here's what I like so far:  The people seem not only nice and friendly, but they generally like living here.  It is not only very diverse in it's population, but seemingly very accepting of that diversity.  And they are very "green" here, very eco-conscious.  The main thing so far that would keep me from living happily here is this dreary weather - I don't think they see much sunshine this time of year.  That would be tough, weather has a strong affect on my emotions.

I am going to change lanes now - ready?  Okay, here we go.  When I was a kid, I just loved my mothers hands.  They were strong, loving, fine boned hands - hands that were so capable of everything and anything.  Caring for her family, kneading and baking home-made bread that was always hot and ready for us when we got home from school, sewing all of my clothes before I started growing too fast, canning our fresh-grown summer fruits and vegetables,  playing & trying to teach me the piano, nursing me back to health when I didn't feel good, gently waking me up every morning for school, and in the last moments of her life, caressing my face as she said "I don't want to leave you". They were amazing hands, belonging to an amazing woman.  And as I was gazing at my hands the other night, I thought "wow, I finally have my mothers hands - isn't that cool".  Yeah, that's pretty damn cool.

Okay, I am downtown Portland and sitting in a Starbucks.  I better get out and walk around a bit. Later peeps.  Hugs.