Let it rain...

They are not kidding about this west coast rain thing, let me tell you. For the last two days solid it has rained - hard and steady. The two days before that, you guessed it, RAIN.

But that's no problem, that's all in the past. What might be a problem, however, is the three months of rain that is rumoured to be on its way.

Now what could make those three months a little more bearable?

How about good friends, a job you like and someone special to hold on those cold wet evening. You know what I mean, curl up into each other and hide from the real world - escape into an embrace that is warm and welcoming and accepts you just as you are.

Man, that could make you feel like rays of sunshine were beaming down into your life - you wouldn't even hear the rain drops or believe that a damp chill waited outside your pillow fort refuge.

I told a friend last night that I had never felt so alone in all my life as I do in Portland. I told them that sometimes I go whole weekends - days on end - without talking to another person in this city. I told them that I had often felt alone in my life, but that this experience was a new one.

And I managed to hide from it in the summer warmth - by hopping on a bike and feeling free, hitting a trail and meditating to the rise and fall of steady feet or paddling out into the running river and being part of something so much bigger than myself.

But then the shadows of this wet winter closed in...

And all I can say right now is thanks to that friend. Even if a chill breeze wafted into the corner of my mind now and then, it was good to spend an evening under rays of sunshine.

Celebrate we will
Because life is short but sweet for certain