HOMETOWN

Recently, we took our first vacation back to Portland since moving away after 12 and a half years in 2019. We had hoped to visit last summer, but COVID had other plans for us. Therefore, we were all quite excited to finally make it back to the place that we once called home.

I was struck by many things on the visit to Portland and central Oregon, where we spent the second half of the trip. The place is physically beautiful with hills, trees, mountains, and many also a large downtown with many tall buildings! 

There are also many fun things to do in town - from restaurants to shops to outdoor recreation. Most importantly, there are more people I love in Oregon than anywhere else in the world. That is what I missed most about Portland since our move, and seeing so many friends was definitely the highlight of the trip.

Since our move, I have been thinking about Portland vs. Ann Arbor as a dichotomy. The place where I used to live vs. the place I live now. The place I felt I had outgrown professionally vs. the place where I came to achieve my potential and make the biggest difference possible.  The place that had many intractable problems - homelessness, crime, income inequality, lack of diversity - vs. our current home that lacks all those problems, though it surely has its own issues. In short, I felt trapped in the present at the expense of the past. 

However, I have come to realize that even if one can only have one home at a time, one can love more than one home at a time. I have been lucky to live in both of these places where I felt comfortable putting down some roots. I don't know how long we will be here in Ann Arbor, but I do hope that if we leave, we will leave with many amazing memories and long list of people whom we come to love as much as our friends in our old home.