What a great weekend. I don't get out very much, at least when it comes to "vacations." Although my definition of "vacation" is very sparse compared with what others define it as. A mini road trip to Eugene and a 36-hour stay is indeed a huge step up for these ol' homebodies. Forget the lift tickets, the layovers, the passports, the travelers checks, the sunscreen. Admittedly, this embitters me a little. Lord have mercy.
Like I said, I (we) don't get out much. But when I do, I tend to get a little wanderlust. It's always hard to come home without entertaining thoughts of a U-Hauling our goods to start another life somewhere else. I probably wouldn't have these thoughts if I took more adventures, if I wasn't so boring.
Well, the cause for this last weekend's adventure was a dear friend's wedding in Eugene, OR. The wedding took place at the small church where I was first introduced to Orthodoxy. It was amazing. I hadn't been there for over 5 years! I don't know why I never went back to visit. I went to college and got pretty involved in my current parish. I met a boy, wrote essays for classes, graduated, got married, had a baby. But let me tell you, it was so good to be back at said church. To see familiar faces, a bit aged, but still friendly. It was a bit eye-opening to see Eugene again... what was once somewhat familiar terrain (it's just two hours north of my hometown, and we went there for church and "big city shopping" outings) was now so foreign.
Eugene is so different from Portland.... a lot more homelessness, a little more run down. People seem a little more down and out, but at the same time there is a contentedness with life. For instance, we went to a park to kill some time. We watched a softball game that was going on, and it was interesting to observe a bit of "Eugene culture." People in dreadlocks and muscle shirts, ornately tattooed, sipping lagers while cheering and rooting for their team of choice. Where hippies and blue collar life collide. The past five years in the greater Portland metro area have converted me to yuppy-ish tendencies... which was startling realization that dawned on me as I pondered the differences between Eugene and Portland. Here where I live I rarely feel challenged or convicted in my spending habits, as I walk down the street. The panhandlers in Eugene remind me of the bounty I've been blessed with when my tendency is to stare at my neighbor's new car and dream of "a better life", when I already have it all.
So... those are just my thoughts on the past few days' adventure. Oh! The wedding was incredible! I didn't want it to end. There's something so soul-satisfying and heavenly in viewing an Orthodox wedding and really, truly celebrating at the wedding feast. Paradise was experienced in the middle of a hurting, troubled city.
Now it's back to life in sterile B-ton. Back to our safe little boxes and well manicured lawns. Oh, there's that missionary inside of me speaking out of turn again.... :)
4 comments:
katie, come on over to the st. johns area of north portland and you will get exactly what you described eugene as being:) it's true!
and it was a beautiful wedding (although i didn't actually see any of it because i was out with petros)
I don't get out much either. I married a home body and am becoming more like him. Whenever I visit a different town, I feel like moving and starting over too.
Glad you had a good trip.
I don't think I realized you grew up near Eugene! What a lovely weekend, and to see Christina! How fun!
I never thought of Eugene as being more run-down than Portland...I think it's a pretty cool place! And yeah, in North Portland you can definitely find homelessness. There is, currently, a shopping cart full of stuff parked next to our garage. Not technically on our property, but they must have used our driveway to put it there while we were on vacation. Watching to see what happens with it...We did have someone sleeping on the steps to the church right next door one time, that faces our driveway.
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