Oh Portland, How I Love Thee

I won't belabor the point...I really do love this town.

Last night was fun. We played for a couple a few dozen folks in NE Portland in this multipurpose room / interfaith chapel type thingie. Our new friends Peter and Solveig (and Soren) put us up for the night and offered us warm hospitality and good conversation.

And following the show, we got to reconnect with Brad and Birgitta and Glenn and Shatrine (and Audrey, who hardly made a peep!). That was wonderful and soulful I felt. We have dear friends all over the place and are so grateful for that.

When we travel, I often grieve that we cannot stay in one place longer. (Of course there are towns that I cannot wait to get out of!) But we pack our days tight. I guess that's no different than our life back in SF. There's simply so much to do...or so we tell ourselves.

I have been thinking about the pace of life that we have chosen for ourselves these last years. We spent 2 years on the beach in Oceanside, CA. And as much as I loved it, I grew very bored, felt anxious to move. Here, it's hard to keep up with myself, my dreams, my convictions.

Still, life is simply full right now and I refuse to simplify in fear of losing some supposed momentum in life. I'm okay with that decision, and embrace it as a seasonal thing. I do not want to live this way all of my life. A friend and I discussed this idea of seasons many moons ago...that perhaps we are afforded certain things in our 20s, certain things in our 30s, 40s, 50s, etc. That is, I ought not pretend that I'm a 60-year-old, trying to find the slow, good life of retirement. I also ought not act like a 20-year-old, full of energy and ready to say, "Yes!" to any opportunity that comes my way.

Perhaps we're afforded different resources at different stages of the game, and it's our choice to use them wisely (and perhaps differently than in previous life stages) or to pretend that we are something we are not.

But then, that assumes that I know what I am.

On to Seattle to meet up with Mark, Nate, and Adam...and several other friends in the area.

Breathe deep, busy mind
Feel the energy
This calm, deep breath
Is God's rich gift