I have always called Chicago home.  I have always felt that it was the place for me to be.  For the first time this weekend that internal notion had reason to be doubted and it seemed like each person Julie and I encountered was willing to offer one new reason we'd enjoy life there better than Chicago.  There are the reasons we all, as cyclists, want to move there.  Portland is, after all, the only platinum rated bike friendly city.  Their cyclocross scene is second only to Europe.  The beer; three days is not enough time to consume enough to make an honest assessment of what I liked best, and I damn well tried.  Coffee is an institution, with multiple local roasters.  The city itself is big enough that it seems to lack redundancy, yet small enough to to feel personable.  The independent nature of everything defiantly drives the warm welcome home.  My liking of the area began on our drive to Eugene and only amplified as the weekend went on.  The morning spent walking around downtown Portland forced the feelings to be something that needed to be reckoned with.  And over breakfast Julie allowed me to talk through what had become one of very few serious life changing ideas I have wanted to enact.

There are quite a few really good reasons that I think a move to Portland would be beneficial to life.  The view of the mountains from the city center only causes these feelings to resonate deeper.  The climate; let us just say that the "bad" winter they had was a couple months long, 40's and rainy.  No bugs.  The way of life is different; more relaxed seems like a lame way to put it, but it holds true.  Of all the great reasons I was able to make for making that transition, there are three really big ones that will keep me within pretty close distance to Chicago. One is our home. Three years ago, there would not have been such a commitment holding me to a city, but I made the decision, happily, to ground myself here.  The second is work.  It probably would not be beneficial for Julie to move again and I would probably have a hard time finding work in the sprinkler industry without a proper education in it.  The most important is family and our desire to have our own.  Both Julie and my parents are close by and a move to the Northwest would abandon our entire support network.  Yes we could raise a family on our own, but having the relatives around is important to us, and right now we are within a relatively short drive from most of them.  It would be a lie to say that I am not disappointed that the move to Portland is not in the cards for us.  At the same time though, the goals I have in life are not short term and there are things I can and can not do to make them happen.  People of Portland, know how lucky you are.