DREAM OREGON FIRST, THEN GET TO WORK

Dream Oregon first, or you’ll be working in someone else’s dream.

Will it be to your liking?

If you don’t have a dream, you won’t know the difference.

So let’s figure it out based on experience, my experience.

Do you dream of sports glory?

Is it about you, or a place?

A woman I met said she attended Texas A&M for the bonfire and football.

That was her dream school.

She went to a game there while she researched colleges in high school and that was it.

Who doesn’t like a good roaring bonfire?

My favorite bonfire came at a Boy Scout camporee that included an Order of The Arrow ceremony.

All the campers gathered around a pile of wood one night with lights shining at it.

It was a lot of campers so it had to be lot of wood.

A scout leader spoke to the group while another group, dressed in Native American gear, snuck through the wooded surroundings.

At the pre-planned moment the man stopped talking, the lights went out, and four flaming arrows flew out of the forrest and ignited the big stack of wood.

Looking back, the wood had to be gassed up.

It was an awe inspiring moment for young scouts in the late sixties.

Something else happened at one Aggie bonfire.

Dream Better Dreams

I don’t recommend jumping on the dream bandwagon.

It’s your job to dream first, then fit life into your dreams.

This writer isn’t the first to leave his hometown, his home state, and return.

But I added an extra twist.

I would find work only done in Oregon.

That was my Dream Oregon First moment.

But, there was more.

By then I’d worked in a sawmill, a fishery, a medical clinic, and an E.F. Hutton bond office.

I’d been to Coos Bay, Charleston, South Philly, and lower Manhattan.

I didn’t know what I’d do next, but it had to be 100% Oregon, Portland Oregon.

Back then I was a fan of low rent city apartments full of low rent characters.

Is there a better way to meet interesting people? I don’t think so.

Turns out high rent people were also fans of low rent apartments in 1980.

I found a nice mix on NW Lovejoy.

That’s where I began my bonfire.

Dream Oregon First

I found an apartment in the Burgess just off NW 21st.

This was before the gentrification kicked in, before tall buildings went up.

The first local sign of change was the Lovejoy Cafe on the southeast corner of 21st and Lovejoy.

It went from an off-street dive with a breakfast reputation to a can’t miss corner location after the property got fixed up.

Fixing it included demolishing Heavy Number Taco.

Locals had fun yelling at the new people and their nice cars from their windows.

“Take a bus.”

“Ride a bike.”

“Where’s your wife?”

I found a part-time job as a museum guard that lasted twenty years.

From exhibit walking, to exhibit building, to managing the museum collections was all Oregon all day, every day.

I was set, or so I thought.

As in other lines of work I met older staff people who’d been passed over, demoted, and didn’t leave.

Not a real motivational vibe for the new guy.

The long term professionals liked to sit. A lot. So I got up to speed.

First I needed to learn more about Oregon history than the rest of them.

I took classes at lunch, night classes, got tuned up. I over-did it.

Then I inventoried the collections, found unacceptable storage, and remedied infestations.

Oregon infestations. I over-did it.

The biggest infection was an attitude of, “The more the boss screws up, the more we can get away with.”

Whatever.

I got busy, stayed busy; found what needed doing and did it.

You can do a lot of things wrong in a museum, like cleaning a painting with Windex, taking things apart that should never be taken apart, and assigning tasks to shady consultants.

For my part, I did history the way one does. Real history. My history.

Welcome To The Other Side

I met my wife on Lovejoy.

Her long time boyfriend introduced us. They new on the block.

We used to go on double dates, her and her man, me and my woman.

Then I was her man and she was my woman.

After we decided to get married I broke up with her as a test.

(Pro Tip: Never break up as a test.)

“If we’re not getting married then I’m starting my life over by moving to England to work and find a decent man.”

I’d demoted her from fiancé to girlfriend and she didn’t take it well. I was no longer considered ‘decent?’

I’d show her decent.

And I did.

My feet warmed up.

We got married, had kids, moved to the suburbs. Has anyone heard that story?

My dream Oregon first nomad days were officially over.

Then I heard family stories, her family.

The more I heard the more steeled I became. My wife would never have such a history to add to the pile.

What’s the Other Side in Oregon? Love with a side of trustworthy, loyal, and helpful.

A Scout is Kind. A Scout knows there is strength in being gentle. He treats others as he wants to be treated. Without good reason, he does not harm or kill any living thing.

An Oregon family is what you can only do in Oregon? I believe it.

But, dream Oregon first.

That’s how you make Oregon history.

What’s your dream?