Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #918 - Portland Rocks - OHSU and Screen Door

Hey, Mom! Talking to My Mother #918 - Portland Rocks - OHSU and Screen Door

Hey Mom,

I have always been quite critical of graffiti. In fact, it has been my mission as a teacher to advocate for smart, literate, and even positive graffiti in class rooms throughout my career. When I read a poem with an amazing line, like Emily Dickinson's "she dances like a bomb," I would encourage students to write that in bathroom stalls rather than pictures penises or insulting BS about some woman's status as a "slut."

Liesel had a doctor's appointment on the OHSU campus very early Tuesday morning, and so I agreed to go with her to make the drive easier and less stressful. We left at 6 a.m. and hit traffic a couple of miles from the bridge. All the exits along the I5 feed tons of traffic, Portland-bound into the highway. Once we reached the bridge, the traffic cleared. It was all merging bottleneck, slow-down.

The OHSU campus is up one of Portland's hills, served by the sky gondola, which next time we may take up there.

The hospital is as beautiful as the drive. There are many cool architectural features that Dad would love to see, Mom.

After the appointment, we let the Google-verse guide us to a breakfast place in the Sellwood neighborhood called  SCREEN DOOR.

I was impressed by the graffiti.

I have finally found a part of the country in which all aspects of life fit with my ethics, lifestyle, beliefs, and principles. Portland is that place. My heart may be in Michigan for many reasons -- sports teams being only one such reason -- but my comfort level and affinity for Portland and its people is growing. Yes, the previous sentence is correct if affinity/comfort level is seen as a single thing, which is how I regard it.

Seeing this bit of graffiti in the "WC" -- Screen Door does not have "gendered" bathrooms -- made me so happy. It had the desired effect. It was an uplifting message. It was a beautiful and inspiring thing.

But all the graffiti in that bathroom was positive. That's because Portland and the people of Portland are generally very positive, happy, and good.

Tuesday was a good day.

One of the best yet.

I will share the second reason why Tuesday was so grand tomorrow.

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Reflect and connect.

Have someone give you a kiss, and tell you that I love you, Mom.

I miss you so very much, Mom.

Talk to you tomorrow, Mom.

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- Days ago = 920 days ago

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1801.09 - 10:10

NEW (written 1708.27) NOTE on time: I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of your death, Mom, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of your death, Mom. I know this only matters to me, and to you, Mom.