Just got back from the Portland, Oregon area a few days ago and finally settled back in at Diego’s house. A lot happened in a short 26 hour trip! So I figured I would recap the trip in segments in this small, simple blog post. Truth is that I’ve slumped into a deep depression after this trip for no apparent reason, which is why I have momentarily stopped blogging and took a break from all social media. But the trip itself was good, with no complaints. I’ve just been in a funk and wrote this blog on Tuesday night and now it’s Friday and still have yet to post it. Shake my head. Oh well, live and let live…

Monday, October 19th

Diego worked until 3:45pm on Monday so he picked me up from my house and we decided to stop by his house to grab him some clothes and so he could shower and get ready to go. About 15 minutes into the hour ride from my parents’ house to Diego’s, my mom called to say I left my keys on the kitchen table, but we were taking Diego’s car and stopping by his house, so I didn’t see the relevance of me needing my keys.

Once we got to Diego’s house, an hour south of my own house, we realized that I had borrowed his house keys to sell his spare fridge that came with the house and my keys were an hour away. So what do we do? We decide to break into Diego’s house. Every door and window was locked, except for the smallest window in the house, which was the kitchen window. The only person who could easily fit in the window was me, the crippled. So I get on Diego’s shoulders and try to balance myself into the frame of the window sill, but I didn’t have the upper body strength to hoist myself up onto the kitchen counters. So Diego backed his car right next to the kitchen window and I get up on the trunk of his sedan and stand up. I place my stomach on the bottom the window sill and use my upper body strength to slide the rest of my body through the window and onto the kitchen counter.

I made it! I successfully got into the house, jumped down to the ground on my good foot and hobbled over to the back door to let Diego in and gave him the spare key. He was able to shower and pack and I was able to use the bathroom. Then we were on the road! He made the 3 hour drive to Vancouver, Washington, my hometown with a quick pit stop in Tacoma where we grabbed some Mexican food for dinner.

We arrived at the Hilton and had a balcony attached to our room, so I brought out the portable speaker onto the balcony and we sat out there with our Coke and whiskey’s and took photos in front of the clock tower in the park that was adjacent to our room and balcony. It was a relaxing and low key night.

Tuesday, October 20th

We drove to my family’s home town of Tigard, Oregon for breakfast. We went to Biscuits Cafe and the food was perfect! Good portion sizes, all at a good price. We weren’t going to see any family of mine on this trip due to Diego and I’s potential exposure to COVID-19 and not wanting to get anyone sick. So we also didn’t visit any of our friends for the same reason.

After breakfast, we went to the Woodburn, Oregon outlet malls where they have severely reduced prices on popular brands like Nike, Under Armor, Columbia, NorthFace, etc. They have many others, but we only hit up the essential stores due to my foot and knee surgery. We thought they might have wheelchairs for rent, but they didn’t. I was forced to walk a ways, but I only went into three of the five stores we went to, so I sat in the car when I didn’t want to go in somewhere so that I could rest. It is an outdoor mall, so we drove to the shops we wanted to visit.

I ended up getting Nike shoes, a Nike hat, shorts, and I bought Diego a beanie. I got all that for $84 and normally the shoes would have been $100 alone before tax so I was very pleased with the price.

Diego got some sweatshirts and sandals from Under Armor, where I sat in the car while he shopped. We didn’t find anything on sale at North Face, so our last stop was Columbia. I ended up getting a backpack for $25 originally $80 for school next quarter, two sports bras, but one get one half off, a couple of shirts, and a Columbia vest for $20, which is a steal. Diego got a vest for himself and a vest for his little brother for Christmas.

After that we drove back home. We were still full from breakfast, even though it was 2 in the afternoon. Normally, we would have stopped at my favorite steakhouse in Vancouver where you can throw peanut shells on the ground and get honey buttered biscuits, which are delightful along with steak and potatoes at a decent price. I stopped by the local vape shop instead to pursue my nicotine addiction and get vape juice at a good price.

After getting gas and snacks for the road, it was a straight shot home and we were at Diego’s by 6pm. We had a relaxing evening back at his place, which was nice.

Overall

It was a good trip with minimal fighting and I’ve just been depressed ever since. Diego has been working a lot, which makes it difficult for me to see him. in other news, he gave me my house key to his house back to me, so I can come chill here whenever. It almost feels like home except most of my stuff is in backpacks and various luggage that I take to and from his house to mine depending on the day.

After tomorrow, he has two days off in a row which is a luxury in the world of retail so I’m sure we will have a relaxing time. In the meantime, I must shake off this depression because sleeping all day and night is frustrating him and me. He’s more sympathetic this time around, but I know he wants to see me more so I’m trying to stay up tonight so we can spend some time together. He gets off at midnight and then has to work at 10:30am the next day, so I’m trying to wait up for him to get home since I’m already here. It’s hard having to switch back and forth on a sleep schedule with his work schedule, but I’m not working so it shouldn’t be nearly this hard.

But the bipolar makes it very difficult to cope with a change in sleep and work schedule. I can’t imagine how tired he must be considering I can just sleep when he’s at work. But I can tell his work schedule is getting to both of us. Hopefully he can take vacation before the holiday season starts and that way, he can be refreshed and revitalized for going back to his six day work weeks.

Much love,

Dani