We're Still From Oregon

Lately I have been feeling a little homesick. In the end of March it was looking like I was going to be heading for a week visit. A very last minute thing because of a family emergency, which Thank G-d was quickly resolved. Whew! It left me feeling a bit of longing for Starbucks, my family and the rain. Well OK maybe not the rain, lets be serious..... but at least the Oregon green. This week I have gotten several reminders that no matter how long we live here, we are still from Oregon. The first one was an on going e-mail, that goes around every year, "Jeff Foxworthy's "You know You Are From Oregon When........." OK so maybe he didn't write it, and maybe he has never been there, who knows! But I still laugh at it and I can still relate to it. Particularly the jokes about recycling, I was so relieved when the plastic bottle recycling bins went in here and when I finally figured out the bottle refund system. The truth is, we rarely have enough refundable items to get more than a dollar, but it goes towards a quart of milk or whatever and that is good enough for me. I hated just tossing these things in the garbage. It is not natural for an Oregonian to toss recyclables in the bin when we know there is a refund!

The next dose of Oregon came from re-installing the hard drive on one of the older computers in our house. We keep the discs in the freezer. Yes, the freezer, that way it doesn't get lost in the shuffle. However, my husband couldn't find them and when I went to look for them where were they? Behind the Starbucks Coffe in our freezer of course! Because we all know that Starbucks and Computers go hand in hand!

And finally, today I got a good old fashioned dose of Portland at a Bris Milah. A Bris Milah is the ritual circumcision of Jewish Baby Boys. Our friends from Portland were having such a ceremony today and so there were a whole crowd of Ex-Portlanders! Hurray! It was really nice to catch up with everyone and talk about things only other Oregonians can understand. We are all thinking about a Portland Reunion this summer. We will see!

You take the girl out of Oregon, but not Oregon out of the girl!

Have a great weekend and Happy Mother's Day!