Portland

I am writing from a porch swing at my friends, Lanz and Christen's house in Portland. I am currently on vacation and have been acclimating to being here. The summer evening is lovely and cool and I'm enjoying being on the porch swing. The last time I traveled to Portland was two years ago. At that time, I had been on testosterone for one month. I've been very tired recently due to an active schedule, so today was an easeful day. I intend to catch up on my rest, visit friends, eat delicious food, have fun, and go to a couple of music shows while I am here in Portland. I aim to have an easeful, relaxing visit. My dear friend Lanz picked me up from the PDX airport earlier today. We had lunch together and went food shopping. I've been relaxing, connecting with Lanz, and her two and half month old baby, Cole Harris. He is adorable and it was wonderful to hold him earlier in the afternoon sunlight on the porch swing and rocking chair. I forgot how friendly people are in Portland. I've seen a lot of smiling faces, neighborhood gardens, flowers, cyclists, and it's really peaceful and relaxing in SE PDX near Mt. Tabor park where Lanz and Christen live. I view Portland as a rather Yin place to live. As Lanz expressed earlier, there is more BEING here in Portland rather than DOING. I would definitely say that the SF Bay Area is a yang place to live. I'm definitely more active in an external, yang way in the Bay Area in comparison to the work that I did when I was living in Portland for two and a half years. The winters and overall grey climate in Portland are conducive to a soul impulse of hibernation, inwardness, and contemplation. I did a lot of amazing meditative and earth based spirituality work while I lived here. Lanz and I drove past my prior place of residence on Hawthorne Blvd. in SE Portland, the Mt. Tabor Apts. I lived there for a little over two years on the second floor and I had an amazing one bedroom apt. for an excellent and affordable price. When I first looked at that apartment there were 40 other applicants present for a viewing of the place. The apartment manager chose to have us roll dice in the basement of the apt. complex to discern who would live there. I happened to get the highest number several times when I rolled the dice and thus with my mazel (luck) I lived in that wonderful apt. I did a lot of inner work in that apartment which created the groundwork and foundation for my spiritual, meditative practice, and life. I feel and know that I am thriving in the SF Bay Area in part due to the foundation that I created for myself while I lived in Portland. I would sit on my orange yoga mat and comfortable maroon cushions and explore as my teacher and mentor in Portland, Allison Bradley would say, my PERSONAL INFINITY. I did stay grounded and connected to life in the outer world as I explored my inner world. When I lived here I was a nanny/child care provider with children in the Waldorf community. I also worked at two different Waldorf schools and was in the Waldorf teacher training. I still miss the wonderful community of folks who I resonated and connected to on an authentic soul and spiritual level. Whenever I travel back to Portland I am grateful and nourished from the soul and heart warming conversations, connections, and presence of resonant and dear friends. I appreciate and am grateful for my film and queer/trans communities in the SF Bay Area, yet I'm still interested in co-creating and integrating a spiritual community within the film and queer/trans communities that I inhabit in the Bay Area.