Oregon Oregon Oregon

(Second pic is wild flower from a statepark in OR, near Cougar Hotsprings last summer, & first pic is a natural wood bench on coast near a lookout area from same trip. Both taken by me and all my pics are copyrighted, please do not use/copy w/out permission.)

Kim is homesick again and I feel so bad. I forced her to live in Iowa instead of Oregon. She misses her family who live in OR. I understand that she wants to go home. If I compare OR and IA, OR wins even with me! The only reason we live here is because my family and friends all live here and they are very supportive. When we first moved here, my grandparents were ill. I was able to be here for my grandpa's death and funeral, and now to visit grandma. My mom helps us with all our repairs on the house by buying supplies and helping w/the work. My mom, sister and I do stuff together all the time. We garden together, scrap book together, shop together....talk almost everyday. We could afford a house here and would never be able to own a home in OR, since they are so expensive there. My mom loves babies and being a grandma and I don't want to keep her from any kids we have. Two of my oldest friends lived in OR with me and have both moved back here too so now we have only one good friend living in OR still.

However, Kim's family is in OR and Portland is a lesbian capitol. The entire state is beautiful and environmentally friendly. Almost everyone there, thinks more like us! There is the coast, the mountains, the desert, hotsprings, waterfalls, hiking trails, wild camping, ferns, fresh air, wild animals, huge slugs, fewer bugs, Saturday Market, more hippies, middle road temps year round, a huge Pride Fest, more artists, Union work for Kim and lesbian friendly union benefits. I was covered on her insurance there, unlike here. I would love for my children to live and love Oregon the way we do.

In OR I have soaked in a natural hotspring with snow all around us in the middle of the woods. I have swam in a stream with beavers and lifted my hands out of the water along the shore so I could see that I was holding 20 soft & cute salamanders in my hands as they crawled around. I watched birds soaring, and ocean waves lapping. I walked through woods so fragile, beautiful, green and lush that you could almost hear the forest fairies dancing and laughing while you walk by. I have tried to breath in and memorize the smell of the fresh mountain air so that I would be able to smell it the rest of my life, no matter where I was. I have stood on a park bench and watched 10,000 other gay/lesbian/trans/bi family members walk together with love to the waterfront park to celebrate our lives and heal our wounds. I have cried with happiness at the beauty of things, many times in Oregon. Just as I cry now while typing this becuase I am so far away from it now. I miss Oregon and so does Kim. My family lives here though and for now we are choosing them even if it is killing ou spirits a little all the time.