Oregon: A Love Affair
A few years ago, I was on an October flight from Portland to Denver. Before the descent into DIA, the pilot announced it would be cold in Denver when we landed and to bundle up when exiting the airport. The two elderly women in the seats next to me gestured toward my sandal-clad feet.
I pulled one earbud out, also gestured at my feet, and said that I probably should have picked more sensible footwear. The three of us laughed and started talking while the plane slowly descended.
Penny and Linda were their names. The pair were friends or maybe sisters. One in the middle seat, one by the window. I explained I was on my way to Colorado to visit family, but had recently moved to Oregon.
Penny’s eyes brightened. She shared she had moved to the central Oregon Coast in her young adulthood. She told me of her tiny downtown Coos Bay apartment. She told me about making new friends, getting a new job, and exploring her new home. At one point, she wistfully described that period of her life as a love affair. A love affair with the wilderness, the coast, a sense of exploration, and all the beauty Oregon has to offer.
Not before or since have I heard a phrase that so accurately captures what it’s like moving to the Pacific Northwest. For me, choosing to move to Oregon was equal parts coming home, awakening, romance, and risk. What can that be called other than love?
During my first year here, I wept constantly because everything was just so stunningly beautiful. Sunset at Cannon Beach? Tears. Foggy drive along the historic waterfall highway in the Gorge? Tears. A nearly-perfect fern? Tears. Not only did I feel like I could breathe again, but the abundance of vitality overfed my soul in a way my birthplace never could.
I was standing in places I’d never stood before, yet I felt more at home than I had in years. In a number of ways, Oregon saved me over and over again. Oregon helped me learn to heal, to stop running from things I’d never outrun. Moving here taught me what it means to honor what my soul needs. Oregon allowed me to live more deeply and with more joy.
I could never say that Oregon or the broader Pacific Northwest is the right place for everyone. It’s not. All of this is to say: Find your home, find the place your soul needs, find ways to live deeply and with more joy. It is so incredibly worth it.
-Rachel
