Grey

by Jon Sullivan - 2025-01-06 - Status

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I don't remember the last two winters being this grey and cloudy, rainy, wet. This winter has felt proverb level wet.

I love my new home, Oregon. And that has required me to completely remake my relationship with weather. Where San Diego was my happy place because it lacked both weather and seasons, Oregon is the opposite. Here, weather is like the tides - Unstoppable, forever changing, constant, dangerous even. Weather will fucking kill you here. But even though I was warned about the grey, I was not prepared. And I have had to brainwash myself to see the grey as just fine.

It's fine. It's not a constant wet moldy monster that sucks all the color from the world and creates more mud than seems probable. It doesn't add another complication to any foray outside. It doesn't limit certain destinations to only a few months a year. It doesn't mean I now need to be an expert in desiccants. No. It's fine. It's completely fine. It's a good thing really. Of course.

But. So much grey.

The grey clouds rolling off the coast and over the mountains. Hiding the sun.

The grey of the fog moving through the valleys like a wisp. Wet and cold.

The grey of my aging. Dripping down my beard like time.

It's fine. I love it. I love the grey and the wet and the mud and the mold and the cold and the...... sigh. We have lots of crab here. And great music. And delightful merry weirdos. And salmon. It's fine.

In my previous life, in San Diego, I lived in a desert. There was no mud anywhere. And any rain would generate plenty of news and water cooler discussions. Why was it raining? Could anything be done about it? Was this a sign of the end times? People in San Diego assume an "ice scraper" is a tool for making cocktails. There is no mud in San Diego, by law.

But as much as I miss some things about San Diego, I wouldn't trade it for my new life here. The grey and the mud brings with it great photos, incredible waves, and delicious food for the picking. Oregon has the seafood San Diego has a weird lack of. While San Diego is clean and Portland is messy, Portland is about living an interesting life where San Diego is about beautiful people.

I used to live in the desert. Now I live where the wild things are.

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