Reason #612 Why I love Portland
As I was walking my daughter and her friend home from school today a woman who lives near the school came running up the sidewalk. I couldn’t recall seeing her run before. She wasn’t dressed for a run and though her dog looked thrilled she looked panicked as she chugged toward us with the leash in one hand and a bag of dog doo in the other.
She stopped right in front of us and grabbed a stitch in her side before asking “Did you hear smoke alarms when you passed my house?”
No, no I hadn’t and I told her so and the girls agreed there had been no smoke alarm and no smoke. It turns out before she took her dog for a walk she had intended to cook some eggs and couldn’t remember if she had turned the stove on or not. She was able to walk the rest of the block and a half back to her house without panic.
Walking the few blocks home a few things occurred to me:
1) I was glad I knew which house was hers.
2) While I know her dog’s name (I’ve seen him almost everyday since he was a puppy) I don’t know hers.
3) I have lived in 6 cities in 3 states and I’ve never lived in another city where I would assume that someone walking down the street that I only know by site would know which house was mine.
4) I love living in Portland, and the people here are a big part of it.
i know so many more dog names than people’s names in my neighborhood… it seems you learn the dog’s/kid’s name the first time you meet and then maybe by the third time, maybe you introduce yourself.
oh, and yay, she had a poo bag! way to pick it up.
Off-topic, but I’m a little perplexed as to why I never noticed that you write for here. Small-town Portland strikes again.
B!X: It’s an odd tiny town we have here, I am surprised my brother didn’t mention it though.
jonashpdx: I threw that little tidbit in because of your post the other day.
Quasi-related story…
Couple years after we bought our house, a couple roughly our age purchased the huge, older house across the street. The gutted it completely and renovated the hell out of it. Looks beautiful.
My wife’s been annoyed with them from the beginning, but I brushed it off as simple jealously. At first, that is.
One day, I was walking my dog around the neighborhood and stumbled on our new neighbors chatting with some other folks near a house down the street. Being the friendly guy that I am, I walked toward them and said “hello.” The husband waived, turned to the people he was talking to, and said “And this is our neighbor’s dog.”
“Our neighbor’s dog?!?” Ok, I realize he probably didn’t know my name (I know his now. it’s sewn onto the voodoo doll), but seriously…