Escape

I really couldn't sleep Friday morning, even after working all night. I've been in Pendleton three weeks and had enough. The van was packed, I checked out and drove into the night. Working a shift that ends at 4:00am re-awakened the night owl in me, the darkness was an old friend I hadn't spent time with in years. In a few hours, the ebony receded, leaving the high desert in cyan as morning arrived. I came into Portland with the colors of a new day.

The good people of Pendleton should know one thing. The State Bird of Oregon is neither the under cooked hash brown nor the runny omelet. I realize they hold them in high esteem, but the rest of the state does not.

Some of the folks in Pendleton wonder why I don't transfer there. There's an opening, and I could have it. They say Portland has too much traffic. Some don't like the rain and others don't like the politics. The cost of a house is absurd. But I've been here for more than twenty years, we've seen good and bad, and this is one of my few lasting loves. I would never leave her.