A year ago this weekend, Lewis rolled bags of luggage down to the Älmhult train station to catch a flight to our new home in Portland. I stayed behind in Sweden with Sophie to finish out work and sell the house. That life seems so far away right now.
Upon arriving home from our road trip to Astoria on Sunday, we found a bag of hand-me-downs from the neighbor who has twin 5-year-old girls two houses to our left. Attached was a note inviting us to their annual 4th of July barbeque. Then, as I was sitting out front while my lemon bars baked for said barbeque, an across-the-street neighbor invited us to the annual street BBQ at the house three doors to our right. The photo above was taken at BBQ #2, where we met many more of our awesome neighbors.
They rolled the grill down to the sidewalk, and blocked off the street for firecrackers. And as I sat there laughing and chatting with these great people, I felt really blessed. America is far from perfect. But our life here in Portland feels as close as you can get to it.
It does look pretty perfect! And that first picture is amazing.
Can't believe it was a year ago that Lewis moved. Imagine how much can change in such a short period of time... So glad you've found such a great life back here in the States :-)
Posted by: Vanessa | July 05, 2011 at 11:33 AM
Sounds absolutely wonderful.
Posted by: Andrea | July 08, 2011 at 08:46 AM