Strangers with candy

Today I used a gift certificate to Peet's Coffee on SE Hawthorne.  While that may not seem interesting, what is interesting is that the gift certificate was from a total stranger.  A friendly stranger, but a stranger nonetheless.

When Scott and I made it up to Portland finally we already knew that we wanted to live on the southeast side of town.  We'd been research for several months just in case we did in fact move here.  We got to Portland, snuck the lizard into a hotel, and began to cruise craigslist for apartments.  Finding housing in a city you are unfamiliar with is tough.

The next day we decided to do a cold run and see what we could find.  We drove all day around Hawthorne, Belmont, and Division and found nothing in our price range.  Finally we needed a caffeine pick-me-up and wandered into Peet's.  Being friendly, the barrista asked how the day was going and I admitted that it wasn't going as well as we hoped and explained our problem.  He immediately shook his head and told us that we weren't looking in the right areas.  The trendier areas where we were looking tend to be more expensive for really terrible holes of apartments.  He gave us several suggestions of areas to look in and then handed us the coffees.  We retreated to the window with a newspaper to apartment hunt on paper (which is a weird thing to do in this day and age...it's like looking in the actual yellow pages for something).

The guy at the table behind us wrapped up what seemed to be some kind of business meeting and, obviously not having talked enough with his client, struck up a conversation with us.

Man:  How's your day going?  Are you in the market for housing?

Me: We are looking for an apartment.  We are just moving to town.

Man:  I'm Jack.  Where are you guys moving from?

Scott:  I'm Scott; this is Anna.  We were living in Chicago but we've been on the road for a lot of the summer.

Jack: Oh yeah?  Where all have you been?

Scott:  All over really.  Chicago, Kansas City, Oklahoma, New Orleans, Arizona, California.

Jack: Did you go to Meteor Crater?  I did that when I was younger.  Bought a bus, me and a buddy, loaded it up with food, weed and other edibles and just drove across the country.  We went down into the crater but I don't think we were supposed to be there.  So, now you're moving here?  What do you all do?

Me:  I teach online and Scott's in school.  We're just looking for something a little smaller than Chicago.

Jack:  (checking his watch) Well, I'm in the housing business; here's my card.  I'm not trying to sell you on using me but if you need help figuring this out here or need restaurant recommendations or anything, just give me a shout.

Us:  Thanks, Jack.  It was good to meet you.

Jack:  You too. Best of luck with the move!

As Jack left, Scott and I mused on how friendly and helpful everyone was.  A minute later, Jack came back over to the table.

Jack:  Here's a little something to welcome you guys to Portland.  It has $5 on there to buy yourselves some coffees while you get settled.  Take it easy.

Scott and I sat there, stunned.

I turned to him, grinned and said, "Welcome to Portland."

We found our apartment the next day.  Welcome to Portland, indeed.