My walk today was to something very near and dear to my heart, I was walking to go volunteer! I’m not sure if it’s the holidays or something is just in the air, but I’ve been feeling a little low lately. I figured what better way to kick my privileged butt out of this depression than to help others who are truly in need! That’s not to downplay my problems or feelings because they’re mine and that means they are important. However, volunteering is a good reminder of my fortune and it helps get me over the blues I’ve been feeling, not to mention giving back to the community feels good.

I’ve been dealing with a lot of personal family issues, and I tend to keep them all to myself and not talk to anyone about it, which is why my anxiety gets so high, and it’s what caused my panic attacks in the first place. The original An Hour In The City helped me deal with those feelings. These walks are more than just an exercise, they help calm my racing thoughts. Today there was just a slight cool breeze in the air and it felt so nice. Like the Earth saying “it’ll be okay”, and I promise I’m not drunk, I just really love a good breeze! This last week in Portland has been so cold and dry, but today the temperature is up by 7 degrees and one would be surprised at how much that can make a difference.

Not only am I walking today for the blog, but also because I literally have to. Our car has been locked into our broken garage for 4 days now! The garage door just stopped working, which I of course discovered already running late to work! Hopefully, today it will be fixed or I may take an axe to it myself.

Like the responsible 28 year old I am, I forgot to eat breakfast this morning and am just slurping apple sauce from a small cup as I walk. I’m sure that, plus the talking to myself, makes a totally sane image. Today I walked through the neighborhood of Hollywood which borders ours. It was named such for its historic 1920’s movie theater that is still in use. We almost moved there instead of Belmont, but I really wanted to live near Lone Fir cemetery because I’m an addict, so Belmont won!

We live near train tracks, which can be so annoying when you get stuck for 30 minutes waiting on one to pass, which actually happened to me on the way to a job interview!, but there is something so cool about hearing the train whistles blowing across town. For me it hearkens back to another time in history.

One things these walks have taught me is that there are so few publish trashcans. I’m always surprised that this is an issue in cities, it was a thing in SF too. It seems common sense that there would be less litter, if there were more places to throw it away!

Good ol’ Kayla…fixing problems one hour at a time.