June 15th, 2026

I’m 36 now, this summer comes at an odd angle. I never know what the year entails. The past few weeks have been hung up in my head, like an empty canvas, waiting for some color but my mind has emptied itself of much of the stresses of life back in the States. I’m sitting here, it’s past midnight, it’s not even the 15th anymore. I’m so far away from the I-5, possibly the longest I’ve been away from home. The late night drives I did at 23 are long gone. The youth who had no beard, that one is long gone. This summer, I want to take my dogs to the park. I couldn’t sleep. I had a long day traveling from Lisbon to Porto. Kristen was visiting Portugal, we met up in Lisbon and hung out for a few days. It was nice to see my favorite person and just be around her. My mind wasn’t so wandering during her visit. We both traveled today, she went back to Oregon with a day long layover in Amsterdam. I came back to Porto for another week. This city is smaller than Lisbon and it really feels like that…