Eleven years ago, nearly to the minute...

...We'd driven up in a caravan of two vehicles, over twelve hours. Tempers were short. I'd rode along with my friend Ithryn and all four of my cats in my mom's Saturn (we told her we were going to tow the car and not drive it, since she was weird about Ithryn driving the car, but she totally knew better). My two brothers were in the Uhaul packed to the brim with our stuff.

..Did I mention tempers were short? We were supposed to have arrived before the rental office closed at 6, but didn't. We had arrived in the city late, gotten completely lost on the way to the apartment, and were all very cranky with the prospect of sleeping in the vehicles. I'd come up with a thousand dollars to my name, and squandering a hundred of that on a hotel just didn't seem like a great idea.

...we were driving, driving, driving some more, since some bastards had decided to take offense to us being parked in a public parking lot and minding our own business. Rather than dealing with it, we'd decided to drive up the freeway a little, and all wound up sleeping in the vehicles at a rest stop. All three of my cats had been dosed for the long journey, but the sedatives were long gone. They had a litterbox in the backseat, but they wanted me to know exactly how angry they were at such injustice, and peed on the back seat at some point.

In the morning, we would be waking up to the sound of Multnomah Falls outside the windows, and walk outside awhile, drinking in the amazing view.

I'd come home. It had a rough start, and the two months to come would not be fun at all, but this was single-handedly the best decision I have ever made.

I couldn't have done it without Gecko. We drove each other crazy and kept each other sane.

Happy anniversary, Portland! I am still madly in love with you.