May 23 2007
So Why Maine?
Some of you may be wondering why we’re moving to Maine? That’s a difficult question to answer, but I’ll try my best. I had never set foot in Maine before July of 2006. And now we’re moving there, only 13 months later. Strange, no? Well, yes, probably. But you’re only young once, and so we’re going.
We’ve been contemplating a move for a while. We both went to college in New York’s Capital Region, and we’ve never left. By the time I leave here at the end of July, I’ll have lived in this area for 10 years. It’s simply time for a change of scenery. We’ve talked about moving south (the Carolinas or Virginia), and we’ve even contemplated moving west. Maine never entered the conversation.
Then, for a friend’s birthday, I went whitewater rafting in central Maine last July. The town we were in was very economically depressed and I wouldn’t ever consider living there, but on the way up, we drove through Portland on 295 and it caught my eye. Something about it just matched the picture I’d had in my mind’s eye of where I wanted live. I even called Her from the rafting camp and (only half kidding) reported that she should start packing. I knew we needed to come back and find out more.
So we did. We have a friend who was living in Scarborough at the time and we went up in August to visit. The weather could not have been more perfect (80s and low humidity–perfect for the beach). I was convinced, and so was She. The scene in the Old Port section of Portland was very attractive to us. Something about that old northern city feel just called to us. This was a place we could spend a few years (or decades).
To make sure, we decided we needed to back up in February, just to get a taste of winter. Portland in the winter was really not much different than Albany. It’s a little warmer, and a little windier. Nothing we could not deal with. I gave my 5+ months notice at work the day we got back. This was it, this was going to be our adventure together. There have been other signs along the way that this is the right move for us, but I’ll save those for another post.
[...] days and weeks, so it’s time I tried to put something into words. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, one of the big reasons we’re moving is that we simply fell in love with the area last [...]
Love this! This is so nice for your family in the South to read, and to catch up with what’s going on with you guys!!! With things being SO busy these days, this is so nice for us, your family and friends, to read and get to hear your musings. And I really like the way you write! Please keep your blogs coming guys!