Day 426, 3000 Miles From Home

I came I in to work this morning, andg stepping out of my car I took a deep breath, like I always do. Only this time it didn't smell like farmland: the breeze was blowing from a different direction. It smelled fresh, rosy pinkness. Looking at the eastern sky from whence the fragrant breezes came, I saw the rose and gold freshness that it carried to me. A little distance away, on the lawn next the road, was a flowering Magnolia tree, dropping its white-pink petals on the grass beneath it. Behind the Magnolia was a row of young cedars, and a little to the right, a grove of magnificent pines, all hemming in the green lawn with its solitary tree laying down its blanket of rosy sweetness.
For a moment I was taken home on the breezes blowing west.
It was beautifully chilling and breathtaking and heart-breaking all at the same time.
Now it is raining, and the gold has gone, but the freshness and the essence of Oregon are stronger than ever. And I ache to be home again.

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