To the yesterdays...

I heard a fisherman once say that to understand your home you must first leave it. May it be a home in West Texas on a dusty corner street, may it be yourself, may it be those innate characteristics that we each possess or may it be a little apartment on a Sellwood Street. And perhaps we will never understand ourselves and perhaps we may never understand why it is that we must first leave ourselves to only find a purer form of me and of you. And maybe we will just never understand anything.

With every sunset I find myself with a greater understanding of yesterday and of all my yesterdays.

I think it was somewhere in the last 5 years that Portland became home.

Today as I sit in a quiet neighborhood under the bluest of skies, I reflect on those 5 years. I suppose the most accurate description of them is provided through a mere smile, shrug and distant stare.

These last few months have been defined by great change for many of the people I love. It seems that it's now that all are going off to pursue great things. The Turner's are pursuing dreams on the East Coast, the Adam's, Karah, Chris and so many more are doing what they've been anxiously awaiting for themselves and for their families. So it's hard to be sad that so much of the "normalcy" in our lives is changing, but that's life.

I suppose my purpose in writing is to say thank you to my family spread across the Pacific Northwest. These past few days I have felt an immense amount of love, support and all things accompanied in those. You have each blessed my life more than I could ever describe, repay or thank you for. I wish you all best wishes in your net endeavors throughout the Northwest and across the globe. You all made Portland  a home for me. Thank you. I love each of you and will miss you.

I'm not sure when I will understand Wrightwood, but I do know that my home is here now, in a little A-frame house shared in the company of two boys I have also missed over this last year.

This is the start of something good... for all of us.

With love, April

                                                                  (minus the snow)