A view from the 10th floor

I have a window at my desk that looks out over the city. I’m on the tenth floor and can see the roof of the courthouse next door, the park block in front of the courthouse, the Willamette River running through the middle of town, bridges, and even Mt St Helens off in the distance on a clear day. If it’s clear and the mountain I is poofing, letting off steam, I don’t need news footage to see it. I can tell which direction the wind is blowing by the flag on top of one building, and get lost in the hypnotically distorted reflections from a black glass building.

Several times a day I see birds flying close to my window and one day I even found a bug on the outside of the glass!. There are a couple of Red Tailed Hawks that I see fairly regularly, usually only one at a time. Last year I was on the phone talking to a citizen about a construction project, looked up and saw both hawks out at the same time coming together in mid-air to mate. It was amazing! In fact it was so amazing that I forgot I was on the phone and hollered, “Oh wow, look at that!” The person on the phone was startled and I had to explain. (I know, very professional of me.)

There’s a lot I can see from my window and it is really a very pleasant view. The one thing I almost never see from my window are people, which is really weird since I’m in the center of downtown. When I’m at street level the sidewalks are covered with people. But, ten floors up it’s kind of a post apocalyptic view, like everything is still there, except people. This is strange when you consider that my job is all about connecting with people. In fact, my volunteering efforts are spent connecting with people.

Occasionally I do see people. The window washer has scared the hell of me a few times. It’s a bit startling to all of a sudden have a full grown man drop into the middle of your window. I’ve been know to scream like a school girl. They recently put a new roof on the courthouse next door and I had a front row seat for that. But really people are few and far between.

Even though I don’t usually see people I’m always aware of them. As a species we’re very noisy. Sirens, horns, jack-hammers, saw cutters, drumming, and occasionally chanting voices from a group of protesters.

Weather is very interesting from the tenth floor, like watching snow and rain, especially when it’s rising instead of falling. Watching how the sun casts shadow along the recessed surfaces of buildings. How fog can close in and still leave openings so you can see a building three blocks away, but not one that is two blocks away.

This whole experience gets me to thinking about the Greek gods sitting on Mt Olympus. Did they feel separated from the people below? Would that explain why they were less then kind and generous to the mortals they encountered when they left their perch?

Life on the tenth floor is amazing for the things you see and the thing you don’t.