Aloha, Bend

“Don’t write when you’re bleeding, write from your scars.”

I sit here trying to compose an initial blog about leaving Bend, and I realize that I am still bleeding. I need time for the scars to form before I can write my reasons and feelings about leaving this place that we have loved for nine years. This place we still love.

The bleeding stems from summers of wildfire smoke and snowballing (minus the snow) effects of climate change on Central Oregon. It is painful to understand what further changes are likely coming. It is painful to know that many people cannot escape this, for myriads of reasons - especially financial reasons. It is painful to watch the effects this is having on ecosystems and wildlife. It is painful to watch what popularity and population pressures are putting on an an area that probably cannot sustain it, in the long term. 

The bleeding stems from leaving beloved friends we have made in central Oregon. You know who you are. We will miss you terribly. We wish we could tuck you and your children and pets away in our trailer with us, pull you away safely from the smoke that has suffocated all of us this summer. 

Meanwhile, as I told my dear friend Lisa, I prefer “Alohas” to “Goodbyes.” Aloha means both hello and goodbye, and we choose to believe we are not leaving you forever. We are not leaving because we don’t love you. We are leaving because we have to. Aloha, Friends. Aloha, Bend.

🌺Robin