"You Going to Cali?" Reflections on Leaving Oregon

As I rode in a Lyft this morning to the airport, I found myself reflecting a lot on my first 7 months in Oregon.  It hasn't sunk in that I won't be back in Portland until August and I wasn't expecting to feel so sad about that.  It's funny how big life changes make me take stock of my experience and realize the things that have changed while I wasn't paying attention.

The first big one is the community that Simon and I have started to build here.  It was really challenging moving to Oregon and knowing that in 7 months we'd be on the other side of the world.  Between being newlyweds, new homeowners, and having new jobs, we didn't have much time to start reaching out and making friends.  But as we prepared to leave Portland, I found myself realizing that we have started building a support system here.  From Simon's boss friend John inviting us over for homemade pizza the weekend before we left to my Nike colleagues friends offering to drive me to the airport this morning, it is nice to know we have people looking out for us.  We will surely miss you all but hope to keep in touch and pick up right where we left off this fall!

One unexpected source of community has been our neighbors who we share our cul-de-sac with.  This morning as the Lyft pulled up and I started loading my SIX bags into the car, they walked over to say goodbye and wish me a good trip.  They've shared their contact info with us and offered to mow our lawn while we are gone, and I know that our house will have a good caretaker in our absence.

Something else I realized... six months is a long time to be away!  I will certainly miss the beautiful PDX summer, but it's nice to know everything won't be so grey when I get back.  I caused a minor scene at the airport this morning as I pushed two luggage carts through the airport, each bag representing a month of this adventure.  Now, I swear it's not all my stuff!  That big one on the bottom right is extra clothes for Simon, and one of those bags is full of shoes (a necessity when you work at the coolest sneaker brand on the planet.)

One final, shorter story: when the Lyft driver saw all my bags this morning his response wasn't "Are you moving?" but rather "You going to Cali?".  I couldn't help but laugh - Oregonians are fiercely protective of their attitude toward life and some are certain that Californians moving here are going to destroy it.  I am proud to be an Oregonian and was almost offended when he thought I was from Cali.

It'll take 17 hours and two planes to get me to Shanghai but I am finally on my way.  Wish me luck and hope we'll get a post from Simon soon!

-Katy