As a person who is 'new' to the City of Portland I've gotten very comfortable with forgetting about my past. Unless a new person asks a pointed question about previous episode in my life, or I spontaneously want to share a story from the past, topics of conversation and mental cognition have remained, thankfully, in the anonymous present.
But there are days here and there where something is published thousands of miles away, someone is profiled in a prestigious newspaper, this someone being a rather large part of the other life I've been successfully avoiding. I get a little sad because I'm prompted to mentally peruse the many shortcomings and lack of follow through I have in committing to something, to someone, to an idea of being there. People have been there for me and I don't seem to provide a convincing or meaningful welcome home.
As for the publication I mentioned, I am elated this fantastic person is getting his time in the sky. I just wish I could have sent a congrats and heard how his family was so pleased about it.
