A Long Saturday Walk Across Portland

The beauty of Portland during spring is best experienced through immersion. This weekend, I went for a seven mile walk from NE Portland to Sellwood so that I could soak up the perfect weather and admire the endless flowers in full bloom. Here is some of what I found: Dogwood, Rhododendrons, Cherry Blossoms, and Camas. The city was awash in pinks and purples and blues and reds; yellows and greens.

And as a reminder… even in the midst of all this beauty, life’s challenges continue. Lately I have been reminding myself that I CAN do hard things… but that doesn’t mean it’s easy or even that it all turns out ok in the end. But, spring reminds me that everything goes in cycles; life, death, and all the growth and decay in between. I can do hard things, because what else is there to do in this life? We can’t have spring without winter and we can’t have joy without pain. There is beauty everywhere, if we are willing to look, but that doesn’t mean that things are easy, just that life is complex and always changing. And without change (and challenge) we wouldn’t exist at all.