(click to enlarge)
Why anyone would move from a utopia like Martha's Vineyard to Portland Oregon is a tough question. I'm sorry to tell my family and Portland friends that I weigh that decision every day. This summer when I went back to the Vineyard, I saw my three best girlfriends in the first hour of arrival, almost serendipitously because on the Vineyard you really can't drive down the street without seeing someone you know. What I didn't expect was the golfball that got stuck in my throat when my friend Mollee picked me up at the ferry. When I saw her, I realized I had repressed so many feelings about leaving such important friends and I just hadn't tapped the nerve that made me miss her and Wendy and Kathy so much.
But that's not what this is about. It was supposed to be a celebration of spring and here I am crying at my desk in my stupid hipster office again about how much I miss my Vineyard family.
Last night when I took this picture, I was picking up Piper from a "Boombox Ballet" class. This is probably the coolest way to get your kids to take ballet and I'm pretty sure I can't find a ballet class for ten bucks where my daughter dances to french hip hop music on the Vineyard. But this isn't the reason I moved to Portland, this is the reason my husband won't leave Portland.
The reason I moved to Portland is because the flowers bloom in February. Right now, if you were desperate for flowers on your way to visit a sick friend, you could get a decent bouquets off of people's yards if you didn't mind pissing them off.
The first time I visited Portland it was March and the gardens and greenery left me awestruck. The lazy-ass daffodils bloom in May on the Vineyard. The wait for any signs of leaves or buds on the trees becomes desperate. You stare up at the trees in late March and imagine you see some green only to be reminded by your equally bitter car companion that it's just a mossy fuzz. It can drive you batty and in my opinion, spring is more depressing than winter because it's so anti-climatic; it comes too late to the party, when you are already boozed out and depressed, and then it's summer.
Last night I imagined posting this picture on facebook right away and letting my Vineyard Friends brew with jealousy. I had a real "NA-NA-NA-NA-NA" feeling up my sleeve. This morning I don't feel that way at all, I hope to offer it up as some sort of excuse to people I miss and who I know miss me too.
Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 1:47PM 
If you only have ten minutes to make a birthday cake, you're lucky enough to live in Portland, and you're even luckier to have a line a mere sixteen people deep to stand on, why not pile a bunch of Voo Doo Doughnuts into a tower?;)
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