OREGON SWERVES LEFT, SWERVES RIGHT, HOLD TIGHT

Try and recall the Oregon moment you finally understood life, or at least the sort of life you wanted to live.

Remember where you were and who you were with and look around now. Are they still in the picture?

Should they be?

I’ve struggled to find the sort of life I want to live because I’m more tuned into the life I don’t want to live. ‘No matter where you are there’s someplace worse’ is my motto, so why complain, why change?

If it sounds like I’m in a rut with this sort of talk, let me explain. Someone close to me, wife close, said I’d still be living in a tiny apartment if left to my own devices. There’s something to it.

As a footloose young man without the burdens of expectation and obligation, in other words I was in the Army, I had a choice to make. I could catch a free ride to Spain on an Air Force transport where I had enough money and time for big memories, or go to a kid brother’s high school graduation.

Instead of Spain I flew to Portland, caught a bus to Eugene, and hitchhiked to North Bend. That’s what footloose means. Sounds kooky now, but I spent the night on I-5 wearing a tan suit and matching luggage.

I realized then, while a full moon rose and set over dark hills, that I wanted more Oregon and less anywhere else.

In a delicious twist of fate I found more Oregon, a bigger Oregon, deeper Oregon, broader Oregon. Did I say wide?

After spending time in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, and New York, I’m experienced enough to say Oregon tops them all. Does that make me a homer?

There’s a reason Portland became the city other cities model themselves after, that Eugene is becoming a cultural magnet, that Astoria is getting its due. But in between the name brand places are all of the little dots that connect the state. I call them jewels in a Northwest necklace, while others call them dark holes that pull people with good sense backwards.

Either way, Oregon is full of the sort of surprises that make life worth living. With parents and grandparents passing on, I like the feeling of sharing the same ground and watching kids grow like they watched theirs.

And so should you where ever you are. Hang on, it’s what we do best.