Days 1 & 2 in Portland

I arrived in Portland (a.k.a. PDX) safe and sound Thursday evening. By the time I crawled between the clean white sheets after my nice hot shower, I'd been awake for 23 hours. I was sore and tired but immediately energized in the presence of Blythe. We chatted in the kitchen and then went for a walk around the block in the middle of the night.

Friday (day) was low key. I met Blythe's husband Peter as I stumbled out of bed and asked for coffee, please? And then I met Sadie, their 18 month old, and I became the new President of the Sadie Fan Club. In the afternoon we scurried off to pick up Ada (4) and Jonas (7) from The International School where they are both enrolled in a Chinese Immersion program. We walked over to the playground and let them run around to purge their body from The Sits. Ada picked a multitude of flowers while Sadie practiced going back and forth when she took a break from going up the curb and down the curb. These things take patience and discipline for an 18 month old and Sadie is singularly focused.

Friday night Blythe and I went to Imago Dei (a church in town) to hear my friend Susan perform her book. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I've "known" Susan these last 9 months but this was our first personal encounter. I also met Aaron Donley and Penny Carothers who also write for Burnside Writers Collective. Aaron helped me write my Christmas Letter 2008 and Penny is my editor. After the performance ended we sat huddled and waiting, sorting out what to do when Don Miller came over and introduced himself to us. One thing led to another and Don invited our party to join his party and the 10 of us went to a Wine Bar for the evening.

The Wine Bar (called Why Not?) was intimate, charming and beautiful. As Suasn said, "I felt like I was with my tribe." and I felt the same way. I sat next to Susan and we repeated (repetitiously) "It's so good to finally meet you." We processed her evening and snuggled a bit in the dark. Eventually Susan moved seats and I beckoned Penny to come and chat with me. I told her, finally face to face, how much she has influenced my life over the last 2 years and how grateful I am that she has given me The Space to Write. 

Saturday morning I went grocery shopping with Blythe and Sadie. The grocery stores in PDX are exactly what I expected. Picture a store a smidge smaller than Family Fare but fully stocked with all things from Harvest Health. Don't get me wrong, I love Meijer and it's huge wide aisles and mini-sections labeled "Healthy Living" but to walk into a store dedicated to this lifestyle is quite a site. I felt the same way when I was in Times Square for the first time in 1995. It's jaw dropping yet these Portlanders take it in the same way they take air into their body.

Susan picked me up at 2 and her husband dropped us off on Hawthorne St - a hippy neighborhood shopping district. We wandered aimlessly just learning about each other in real time. Eventually we walked a few blocks over to Belmont St. and looked for the coffee shop where we would eventually meet Penny at 4. I have to tell you that we walked by the shop at least 12.5 times and then we gave up without finding it at all. Instead, we settled into Stumptown coffee and sat outside in the sun. I told Susan my life story. Susan heard me and looked me in the eye and began to cheer lead me again. I need that.

Penny found us and walked us back to our original destination, and yes, we'd walked by this place before. There we sat under a tent and had Girl Talk like middle-aged sisters. This was turning out to be one of my favorite afternoons of all time. Again, I was with my tribe.

Six p.m. found us at The Laughing Planet where we met lots of Burnsiders for dinner (other writers connected to The Burnside Writers Collective). Initially we expected a small gathering, but it turned into a party of 20. I sat across from Susan and her agent and Penny sat beside me. To talk to Penny, like this, was a wonderful thing for me. I've "known" her for more than 2 years. We've exchanged countless emails and random phone calls. But now we had rather undivided attention to give and take. We brainstormed and told stories and talked about writing. For this part of the weekend I was a bit like Sadie, singlulary focused on writing. I wanted to take it all in, ask all my questions and maybe find a few answers. 

At one point in the conversation Susan told The Agent, "diane is a writer for Burnside" and Agent said, "Oh? Are you writing a book?" and I sheepishly said, "No, not yet. I haven't sorted out how to do that yet." Susan then proceeded to recap my life story (which I told her just a few hours prior! what timing!) to Agent. We talked about all the people I've known in my life that are a part of my network. I didn't know I had a network. I didn't know I should draw on their support. Agent looked at me and said, "diane, you are a lot farther along than you think. You are very well networked. You need to write that part into your book proposal. You need to write 3 or 4 solid chapters of your book plus an annotated outline and submit it. You can do this."

Penny and Susan agreed. Penny and Susan have been saying this for quite some time. I thought they said it because they are my friends and very nice people. I like nice people. They're nice to me. 

The evening slowly ended as people parted ways. When Susan dropped me off that night she hugged me very tightly and said, "It was so good to meet you, to hear your story and it's always good to know you. I'm going to keep talking to Agent about you."

I walked into the house and Blythe poured us each a glass of wine. We sat around the table for 2 more hours as she helped me unpack the evening. I miss Blythe a lot. This has been a good trip for me, my soul, my health, my stress and my future.