I am building up quite the collection of draft posts that, for an assortment of reasons, I have decided not to post. The most prevalent reason being a lack of time to devote to editing. I tend to draft posts by spewing words on to the screen, so they can be fairly incomprehensible without that last step.
The weeks have been flying by, which, in all honesty, is kind of terrifying. June 27th, the day David and I fly to Plattsburgh with our cats, is waaaaay too close for comfort. Especially when you consider how little David is around this month. I won’t enumerate the actual days I am solo because I am trying to avoid inducing panic in myself or David. But trust me, he is gone more than he is here.
Being a short-timer has helped me become more mindful of what I love about Portland. Most of what I think I will miss most varies from day to day, but my number one item remains constant, friends. I have many friends in Portland whom I have known since I was but a wee freshling at Reed. I have grown up with these people, been there for marriages, babies (some of whom are somehow now headed off to college), career highs and lows, family illnesses and deaths. In other words, we have all grown up together.
But my friendships extend far beyond the bubble on SE Woodstock. I also have dear friends made throughout my professional career, whether they be from Portland Parks & Rec, CubeSpace or the Portland tech scene. I value these friendships greatly and will miss getting together with these friends, albeit often less frequently than I would have liked.
Believe me, I have absolutely no intention of losing touch with my Portland friends. Nevertheless, things will inevitably change once I am no longer local. And that is sort of sad-making. But I have lived 3,000 miles from my BFF (who is also a Reedie) for over a decade and if anything, I would say the need to be intentional about nurturing our friendship has helped bring us closer.
Portland has become much more of a foodie town since I first moved here back in the dark ages when the only food available after 9pm came from The Hotcake House or QP. No one can accuse Portland of having a dearth of delicious food at this point. But sadly (at least for me), some of my favorite haunts are now long gone. I would love an to opportunity to have farewell meals at Saigon Kitchen or Jarra’s, but they are no more. And even a last #4 at Woodstock Wine & Deli seems unsatisfying without Tak around.
On my way to reunions this weekend I had a sudden craving for Oasis Pizza. I have lived 2 blocks from Oasis for the past 13 years and I have only been there a handful of times. But once upon a time, the pizza options in Portland were fairly limited. Oasis had slices for a $1. Which made it well worth the effort to hop on the 75 to get cheap pizza. Their slices are now closer to $5 a pop and they are not the tastiest pizza in town, but I am nevertheless planning on getting a slice for nostalgia’s sake.
This post did not end up where I thought it would, but I am posting it anyway. I suspect there will be a few more rambly posts before we become Plattbugh Platypi (no that is not a thing, but enough of my friends think it should be so we are going to see what we can do). You have been warned.