My Morning Meditation

The morning trip to work starts with a good healthy breakfast - something to last me the mile-long walk to the hospital. Most mornings it's clear and at every bend of the road you get a glimpse of portland from atop the hill. This morning it's been raining and there's quite a bit of moisture suspended in the air.  I take Fairmount Blvd for about 3/4 mile which is a flat, curvy road studded with houses all along one side. Then I take Marquam Hill Rd down a steep hill to the main hospital. It takes me about 20-25 minutes but it feels like 10. It's so quiet and peaceful - it gives me time to get my head in the game before I get to clinic.

Once I hit the main hospital, I transition to the Aerial tram which goes from "the hill" to "the waterfront." The tram is free for students, runs every 5 minutes and holds around 30 people. In the afternoons its not uncommon to have a group of tourists on the tram. Understandable. It basically gives you a bird's eye view of Portland. I was told that when the tram first opened the people that lived below it "revolted" and put signs up such as "F* the tram" on their roofs.

The tram takes me directly to the front doors of the Center for Health and Healing. Our clinic is the Penthouse - 16th floor where every patient room has a view. There's also a cafe, a coffee shop, a gym and then of course tons of other clinics in our building. Everything about it is so nice and new. OHSU is essentially a private hospital though so I guess they can get away with these types of fancy things.

This was taken from the tram looking back at the hill... that's the main hospital building in the center with the tram dock attached to it.

Here you're looking down at the waterfront. If you can follow the cables down, the CHH is just to the right of that.