Making Connections

October 29, 2009

I realized today that I've been talking to a lot more strangers since I moved to Portland.

I talked with a gal at Food Front (a cooperative grocery store about 6 blocks down) for 15 minutes about Dansko shoes.

We talked comfort, fashion, seasonal wearing and how they should fit. She had a little boy around 1 year of age. Instantly, we had three things in common.

I'm not sure if it's because there are so many similar-minded people here, or if I am just growing more comfortable in my own skin, but I feel safe here.

Safe to talk to strangers, safe to express myself, even safe to pass the bums.

Am I dreaming? Is this place real?

Maybe it's a lifestyle thing; a west-coast lifestyle thing.

The thing is, I like myself. It's not even so much about other people.

I like myself when I'm near the mountains and the ferns. I like myself when I dress really funky and don't think twice before walking out the door. I like how I smile at the leaves falling down in spirals in the middle of an intersection.

When I look around, I like the fact that other people are watching the leaves fall with smiles on their faces too.

I'm making some connections...connections with myself, nature and other human beings.

I'm realizing all the more how connected all of us are; we always have been and always will be.

It's emotional and heartwarming. Makes my nose tickle...

And more than that, I am beginning to understand that I don't have to be in Portland, Oregon to be my true self.

I've got to remember that, even if I get funny looks from the preppy girls.

One moment, all the time,

Kaitlin