Lovely Anonymous Commenter

I just had an anonymous comment posted in response to my "really good things" post. In case you missed it, here the comment is, in all its glory:

"Oh great, another California Libber coming up to screw over/Californicate Oregon."

This is exactly what I'd dreamed about when I uprooted my family and moved to a smaller town - that people would be open and welcoming, and would judge me on my own merits, instead of having preconceived notions about who I am and what my goals are based upon superficial information. I mean, really, what better kind of welcome can a girl hope for? (I'll tell you what kind - the kind of welcome I have received from 99.99% of the people I've talked to here. The kind where people are nice for the sake of being nice. The kind where folks you've never met before meet you for a beer to welcome you to the new town you've set your hopes on. I'm glad that most people have been wonderful, but then again, we wouldn't have picked Bend for our future if people here hadn't been so darn nice.)

I don't know what it would mean to "Claifornicate" Oregon, but I'll tell you what -- we lived in California for the past two years and were done there after about the first ten months. We wanted to live in a quieter place, but not so quiet that you have to drive an hour on a regular basis to find things. We wanted a family-friendly town, where there was a good sense of community, and where there were parades and other fun family-centric events. We wanted a place with a sense of humor, a sense of history, and interesting people. And we found all this in Bend.

I know there are people here who wish for the quiet town of 15,000 people that Bend used to be. I can understand that longing -- I can imagine the town with more open land and fewer cars, and wish I had been here to see that. I'm not thrilled with what I see as over-development here -- the houses so close together, crammed into the avaialble space. I don't know why it's so hard to find a 12,000 SF lot here, but it's close to impossible to find one. It's funny - we moved from Southern California to Bend and have 4,000 fewer square feet of land under our house. I don't get that at all. I imagine that it was amazing here before everyone encroached on the natives. So I get it. At least I think I do, at least kind of.

But I personally don't get the animosity toward me, the person. OMG, I'm a "libber" (I can't figure out if that means Women's Libber or Left-Wing Liberal. Whichever, both fit pretty well, although I do think I'm somewhat moderate. In any case, I don't see it as an insult. Call me closed-minded if you want to offend me.) But let's be clear, I'm not a California Libber, I'm a Maryland Libber (and Maryland is a much more liberal state than California. Heck, we lived in Orange County, California. I think I was one of three registered Democrats in the county.), and I'm proud to be me. I'm happy to be here in Bend - in fact, I'm thrilled. I felt the weight lift off my shoulders within days of being here, and am in love with this area and what it holds for my family.

I don't really have much else to say, except that you, anonymous poster, are a grumpy-pants, and maybe you should try to not be the grinch this year and should instead make an attempt to understand why people would want to move here. It's certainly not to screw up "your" town. Because it's our town now too.