Friendly faces in a foreign place

My previous post mentioned the young couple who welcomed Simone and me to Pittsburgh a week ago. Today is my chance to thank Leigh and JJ for everything: being great company at dinner, serving as tour guides and cultural interpreters; letting me crash at their cool apartment; and, most of all, providing a soft landing for our daughter as she gets her feet under her in a new city. A nicer couple you could not find -- friendly, funny and not an ounce of pretension.

What a bonus that the two of them have strong Oregon connections and, in fact, moved together from Portland two years ago so Leigh could pursue the exact same graduate program that Simone is just beginning at Carnegie Mellon. She completed her masters last month and graduated with the honor of a service award for her work in the community. JJ, meanwhile, is a graphic artist and two terms away from finishing his studies at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

Leigh grew up in the Beaverton area near Sunset High School, the same school our nieces and nephew attended. As a young girl, she moved to Australia when her mother remarried but returned to Portland for college (Lewis and Clark). She works for Carnegie Mellon and was in Portland last year representing CMU at a job fair or some type of informational/recruiting event. That's how she and Simone met and they hit it off immediately.

JJ grew up in Ashland, the youngest of seven (or is it eight?) children, and moved to Portland after high school. He's taken art classes here, too, and seems to be well occupied with a variety of projects there in Pittsburgh.

It's not much of a stretch to say the two of them typify the young, urban transplants who are helping to revitalize Pittsburgh. The city has been losing population for several years, but that's beginning to turn around as educated hipsters move there, drawn by the quality of life and budding economic opportunities. When I asked them at dinner where the young people are coming from, they answered as one: "Portland."

Leigh and JJ have graciously allowed Simone to live with them through the end of this month while she gets her bearings. As a dad, I really appreciate that. Happy news came this week when Simone told us she'd already found a place -- in Lawrenceville, no less, the very neighborhood where we had dinner and a place that The New York Times calls "a go-to destination."

Simone and Kyndall and their lovable dog Quimby (a Chihuahua/Pug mix who thinks she's God's gift) will have a two-bedroom house with a back yard to move into. Their looming challenge: repeating the 2,600 mile cross-country trip, this time in a U-Haul and with their little rascal of a dog.