Gilchrist
by Kelli Luke
Oregon City, OR
As a child, the thought of living in Oregon has disappointed me. What’s so special about Oregon? It’s not like New York or California or Hawaii or one of those places that you always think of when people ask where you want to live when you grow up. I mean, California has its fame, New York has the whole city-life, Hawaii has its tropical feel, but what does Oregon have? Rain and Christmas trees? We even have a town called Boring. That tells you a lot. So, as I grew up, the thought never occurred to me that people could actually want to come to Oregon. That was, until I went to Gilchrist.
It happened so suddenly, that I can’t remember what a day would feel like without knowing that I have a half-brother, but I do remember that day. My mom and dad sat my brothers and me down in the living room and just let it come out without warning. “You have another brother.” She said, quickly and to the point. Great, another brother, I thought as she started to tell the story about my father and his ex-girlfriend, Ronda. As the only girl in the family, the last thing I wanted was another brother. Plus, Josh was older: 9 years older. The last thing I wanted was an older brother to pick on me. But as much as I didn’t want to admit it, I was excited to meet him. The next month, we finally decided to head out to Gilchrist, Oregon to meet my half-brother for the first time.
The car ride from West Linn was long. The four hours of questions and many unknown answers irritated us. Dad told us all about the small town that was 40 minutes South of Bend and apparently if you blinked while driving through, you’d miss it completely. But even now, years after my first trip there, I can still remember my first moments there vividly.
The nervousness grew much larger as we saw the mailbox with the name Bishop on the side. My dad turned onto the long driveway and there stood the small, one story house. The lawn out front was as green as could be with a trampoline right in the middle. Next to the house was a large garage with piles of wood stacked by it. Stepping out of the truck, all you could smell was the air: the fresh, clean air. Thinking back to that moment, I would’ve never guessed that I would eventually love that place. But as the trip went on, I couldn’t imagine how anyone wouldn’t. And when it finally came to an end, I didn’t want to leave.
In that one October weekend, I had fallen completely in love with Joshua and his family. Ever since, every trip I’ve taken there has given me amazing memories; like hunting for lost golf balls with Josh in the woods behind the house, and swimming in the stream in town after Josh’s graduation. The little diner had become my favorite place to eat because it amazed me how everyone knew everyone. Gilchrist amazed me. The winters were always snowy; the summers were always sweltering. Probably, the best part of the whole thing was watching out the window as we drove from the rainy Willamette to the dry Central Oregon. Watching how everything around me changed, but overall it was still Oregon.
That was probably the one thing that changed my mind about my so-called-boring little state. From my experiences in that one small town, I had learned to appreciate Oregon for what it really had: the mountains, the enormously tall trees, the fresh air, and the overall beauty of the great outdoors. Thanks to Gilchrist, I fell in love with Oregon.
