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When the spark goes out of a love affair, all the marriage counselors agree, it’s time to remember what attracted you in the first place.
This Valentine’s Day, a lot of Portlanders are struggling to rekindle a romance with their hometown. Last week, we talked to six former residents who essentially went out to buy a gallon of milk and never came home. The population crash sings a breakup song—it’s a town of wandering eyes, everybody thinking about some other place to make their bed.
Whatever happened to Astoria? Maybe you’ll give her a call…
If this seems an inopportune moment to talk about loving Portland, we think it’s the perfect time. It is possible to be devoted to someone whose flaws you recognize and want to fix (hell, that’s as good a motto for local journalism as we’ve heard), and perhaps it’s necessary to see what’s special about a place in order to feel motivated to fix it.
For us, it’s the little things in the Rose City that still make us feel a surge of love.
It’s the woman who arrives each day at an Old Town kitchen to calm distressed people (Reason #2) or the artist who built a miniature gallery in his front yard (Reason #26). It’s a mom coaching her giant sons (Reason #16) and grandparents introducing a new generation to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Reason #13). It’s free pastries on two wheels (Reason #6), bars on four wheels (Reason #10), and the best pillows two cheeks ever felt (Reason #24).
We hope the 26 stories that follow give you reason to stick around. Over and over, they show people believing enough in a future for this city that they keep showing up.
Maybe love is making that choice.