To Away and Back

Last week I made my first trip away since moving from away to Maine, going back to Connecticut to attend some meetings at work. It was interesting to see how it made me feel.  The best part of the trip was seeing friends and spending some time with them.  I also liked being in the office for a couple of days; it made me feel re-connected to things there.  A friend I had dinner with asked me "do you miss Connecticut?"  I thought about it and I realized (and told her) that no, I don't miss Connecticut.  I miss certain people (including her), friends.  But that's it.

Maybe it's in part the fact that I have wanted this move to happen for a long time, but had to be patient and work over many months to achieve the goal of buying a house - even a 152 year old small "dated" house in a small Maine town - that makes the fact of my being here so meaningful.  The decision to move to Maine, to buy a house here, was not one that was possible to make and act on immediately.  It took really more than a year of planning and work.  I think it may be the first time in my life I set myself a concrete goal that had to be really worked for to be achieved - and then went for it and succeeded.  Perhaps that underlies a good deal of the happiness I feel every morning when I wake up here.  And it's true - I wake up happy every day.  It is a blessing and I am grateful.

On another level, I believe this particular town really does suit me.  Rockland just feels like I think a town should feel and it so quickly felt like "home".  I haven't seen all of it by any means (even though it is only 18 square miles, I think), but there is a real downtown, with actual stores, galleries, restaurants, taverns - that local people really seem to patronize - rather than being dominated by tourist-oriented businesses.  The harbor is a working harbor, and again, not tourist oriented.  Someone in Connecticut asked me about "walking on the beach".  One doesn't "walk on the beach" here; there is no real "beach".  It's a rough and rocky shore.  One walks TO the shore and during daylight hours, perhaps out the mile long breakwater to the lighthouse.  There one might watch lobster fishermen hauling up their traps, keeping the lobsters that are big enough, throwing the others back, re-baiting the traps and dropping them again.  In the early morning one might walk to a local boat school's dock and out it - to watch the sunrise. But no, there's no pink-painted-toenail-dragging-as-you-run-through-romantic-sandy-beaches in Rockland.   

Many people earn their livings from this harbor year round, fishing, boat building and repairing, the ferry that runs to off shore islands, the fish processing plant, and so on.  I learned at the local synagogue this past Friday night that in Rockland we have a full-time, year-round Harbor Master (and a part-time, seasonal only, Assistant Harbor Master)!  I love walking Ella just at daybreak down to the shore and seeing the crane in one of the shipyards with its lights on, men arriving in their pickup trucks, going to work right on the water's edge as the sun rises behind them.

I love the fact that the neighborhoods are made up of a wildly eclectic mix of houses - from relatively new to very (very!) old.  From tiny to very (very!) large.  Elaborate Victorians, simple New Englanders, ugly (in my view) 1950's ranches, duplexes, condominiums, apartment buildings - and many more.  Other parts of Rockland may be more homogeneous than our immediate area, but around here at least, the hoity toity seem to be living shoulder-to-shoulders with the rest of us: middle class, working class and some that may be just hanging on.

It was warm last week (almost 50 degrees some days), which was convenient for making the 5 hour drive to/from Connecticut - no worries about snow or sleet on the drive.  This week has been a little cooler but not really cold.  But tonight the checkout girl at the local grocery chain, Hannaford, said we're getting snow, possibly starting on Sunday.  The Hanukkah lights are in the window tonight and for 3 more nights.  Neighbors up and down the streets have put out Christmas lights and evergreen wreaths abound.    A little snow would be nice.   

I'll keep you posted.