haunts and gifts

sitting here sipping on the goat. (yep, i'm off the wagon) replaying the evening in my head. last words last night before i fell asleep were pronounced aloud. "today was a good day". i love it here in eugene. no place is perfect and my younger years i was always had a serious case of wanderlust. i tried to protect the beautiful places from outside "invaders" and was jealous of sharing them. this happened to me in brevard and it was emotional for me to "lose" my home as i had known it. truth is, i was always looking to leave. i did. several times.

here in eugene. i was on the other side of the fence. i had the funny accent i didn't know i had and strange license plates. i came here a stranger and was accepted and embraced despite my own personal shit. this town has almost 90,000 more folks in it than we had in brevard, yet this feels like more of a close knit community. reminds me of living in europe when i was younger. the nooks and cranny places. the awesome veggie restaurants. the breakfast joints. the coffee houses. the markets. bike paths. homes. trails. it was all opened up and i was invited to join and be a part of it. makes me feel ashamed at the animosity i held towards every out of state license plate and i cussed at in brevard.

discover the community around you. walk into a place you have never walked into before and say hello to a fresh face. take a path less travelled and see what opens up to you. eat at a restaurant you have never tried before. maybe start small and just order something different on the menu of your usual place. make a new friend outside of your circle. take a different way into work. maybe ride or take the bus instead of driving. community is a gift. share yourself.