Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
After having a stimulating conversation with my DW this evening, I had an inspiration (which came from my DW) about how we had come full circle in the last 8 years. I am sure that many of you C-D'ers have come full circle in your lives or are about to fulfill a lifelong dream.
I would like to share our full circle/dreams with you guys. I visited Maine and Nova Scotia in 1983 the first time. I really liked the area and wanted to visit again. Fast forward 17 years, marriage to my DW and we are in the year 2000. We flew from Florida to Boston, rented a car and drove to St. John's New Brunswick, all in a single day. We visited Maine in the fast lane (I-95), and only took in the coast from north of Portland to just south of Bar Harbor. The trip was wonderful, and we both felt a kinship to the area. At that time the US dollar was at a record high and homes in Canada were a real bargain, but a home in Canada was not meant to be.
We visited Nova Scotia three more times and each and every time we felt we belonged. One of our best trips included Briar Island. We felt an almost genetic longing to be in this are. We even found a small village named Lyon's Brook, which incidentally was my DW's maiden name.
Fast forward four years to last summer. It was miserable, intolerably, hot in Florida. I had ten days off and on a whim checked plane tickets to New England. I scored two round trip tickets from Florida to Manchester for $300. I rented a car at the airport and we were Eastport bound. We stayed in a wonderful B & B for 7 nights (DM me for the name if you are interested). I found a local watering hole, and I was set. We ate at a restaurant, and were served by a waitress who attended Shead High School
Well, we had house fever and spend much of the time looking at homes for sale. We had several prospects but were beaten each time by the words "under contract." We looked in Lubec, and were surprised to see so many Lyons in the telephone directory.
We met so many wonderful people there. We didn't find anyone, anywhere to be standoffish. Of course I have never met a stranger, just someone I don't know just yet. We felt almost adopted by the town.
We didn't find a house on the trip, but our realtor knew what we were interested in and our budget limit. We left saddened, but with the knowledge that we would be back. About two weeks after we were home, the realtor called us. They had a price reduction on a house we had looked at. The house had been out of our price range, but with the sizable price reduction, it now became a mission. I met the owners price, and mailed a deposit to the realtor. The offer was accepted, the deal was done, and we have a house in Maine. Everything just fell into place. I know closings can be horror stories, but ours was routine. We closed via Fedex. The waitress was the daughter of the owner of the house we bought. I feel certain that I also met the house's owner in a local antique store. We even saw a photo of the house on a for sale poster. My wife even found photos on the net of the house as it was being remodeled.
Now for the full circle. We had always been drawn to the area since our first visit. When I looked at a map, I realized that we were only about 70 miles from Briar Island, but in the US. We had been looking in the right area, but in the wrong country. Three months later my DW's uncle told her that their people had migrated from Europe to Canada, then Maine, and down the Appalachian trail to Tennessee and Kentucky.
We came full circle looking for our "home." My wife reminded me this evening that her lifelong dream was to own a house in a coastal Maine community. As for me, I am a Pisces, and love water. We both share a love of the ocean, its smell, the fog, lighthouses, cool summers, and of course the long cold winters that go with such a place. We both are from small towns that are about a an hours drive from a city.
So here we are, getting ready to open the house in about a month. My DW is sitting across from the on the computer, looking at cottage style furniture and burning that $1200 economic incentive check, which by the way has not yet arrived. I am saving all my nickels and dimes to make the 1700+ mile trek to Maine.
Do you have a dream, or has your life come full circle. If so, please share it in this thread!! I know this may sound corny, but this is the stuff dreams are made of.
PS- Since my wife accuses me of never using turn signals (sadly I must agree with her), I will be perfectly at home in Maine. Nobody needs to use them as everybody already knows where you're going. It's like going home again.
Last edited by maine4.us; 05-10-2008 at 10:05 PM..
Reason: numerous typos
I love your story and am happy that you have found contentment. I do love and appreciate living in Maine, but something tells me I can't settle down here. I never have felt "at home" here. I am envious of your peace! Best wishes to you
After having a stimulating conversation with my DW this evening, I had an inspiration (which came from my DW) about how we had come full circle in the last 8 years. I am sure that many of you C-D'ers have come full circle in your lives or are about to fulfill a lifelong dream.
I would like to share our full circle/dreams with you guys. I visited Maine and Nova Scotia in 1983 the first time. I really liked the area and wanted to visit again. Fast forward 17 years, marriage to my DW and we are in the year 2000. We flew from Florida to Boston, rented a car and drove to St. John's New Brunswick, all in a single day. We visited Maine in the fast lane (I-95), and only took in the coast from north of Portland to just south of Bar Harbor. The trip was wonderful, and we both felt a kinship to the area. At that time the US dollar was at a record high and homes in Canada were a real bargain, but a home in Canada was not meant to be.
We visited Nova Scotia three more times and each and every time we felt we belonged. One of our best trips included Briar Island. We felt an almost genetic longing to be in this are. We even found a small village named Lyon's Brook, which incidentally was my DW's maiden name.
Fast forward four years to last summer. It was miserable, intolerably, hot in Florida. I had ten days off and on a whim checked plane tickets to New England. I scored two round trip tickets from Florida to Manchester for $300. I rented a car at the airport and we were Eastport bound. We stayed in a wonderful B & B for 7 nights (DM me for the name if you are interested). I found a local watering hole, and I was set. We ate at a restaurant, and were served by a waitress who attended Shead High School
Well, we had house fever and spend much of the time looking at homes for sale. We had several prospects but were beaten each time by the words "under contract." We looked in Lubec, and were surprised to see so many Lyons in the telephone directory.
We met so many wonderful people there. We didn't find anyone, anywhere to be standoffish. Of course I have never met a stranger, just someone I don't know just yet. We felt almost adopted by the town.
We didn't find a house on the trip, but our realtor knew what we were interested in and our budget limit. We left saddened, but with the knowledge that we would be back. About two weeks after we were home, the realtor called us. They had a price reduction on a house we had looked at. The house had been out of our price range, but with the sizable price reduction, it now became a mission. I met the owners price, and mailed a deposit to the realtor. The offer was accepted, the deal was done, and we have a house in Maine. Everything just fell into place. I know closings can be horror stories, but ours was routine. We closed via Fedex. The waitress was the daughter of the owner of the house we bought. I feel certain that I also met the house's owner in a local antique store. We even saw a photo of the house on a for sale poster. My wife even found photos on the net of the house as it was being remodeled.
Now for the full circle. We had always been drawn to the area since our first visit. When I looked at a map, I realized that we were only about 70 miles from Briar Island, but in the US. We had been looking in the right area, but in the wrong country. Three months later my DW's uncle told her that their people had migrated from Europe to Canada, then Maine, and down the Appalachian trail to Tennessee and Kentucky.
We came full circle looking for our "home." My wife reminded me this evening that her lifelong dream was to own a house in a coastal Maine community. As for me, I am a Pisces, and love water. We both share a love of the ocean, its smell, the fog, lighthouses, cool summers, and of course the long cold winters that go with such a place. We both are from small towns that are about a an hours drive from a city.
So here we are, getting ready to open the house in about a month. My DW is sitting across from the on the computer, looking at cottage style furniture and burning that $1200 economic incentive check, which by the way has not yet arrived. I am saving all my nickels and dimes to make the 1700+ mile trek to Maine.
Do you have a dream, or has your life come full circle. If so, please share it in this thread!! I know this may sound corny, but this is the stuff dreams are made of.
PS- Since my wife accuses me of never using turn signals (sadly I must agree with her), I will be perfectly at home in Maine. Nobody needs to use them as everybody already knows where you're going. It's like going home again.
That was beautiful. I'm so happy for you both and look forward to the day I can call you neighbor even though it already seems like you're family.
I love your story and am happy that you have found contentment. I do love and appreciate living in Maine, but something tells me I can't settle down here. I never have felt "at home" here. I am envious of your peace! Best wishes to you
A beautiful story and beautifully told! Mazel Tov on "coming home".
I have to spread it around before I can rep you again. This is a great story and I'm glad you shared it with us.
My full circle was small. I was one of those people who had to get out of here when I was young. I didn't have to be gone long, or see more than one rattlesnake on my lawn, to realize there's no place like home and home is Maine. I don't think I could pry Steve out of here. In all of his travels he's never seen a state that appeals to him like home. He grew up on the ocean. You can't find that every where.
I had never lived in Maine before I moved here a month ago, but Maine is my ancestral home; the state where generations of my family lived since the 1700’s. Dad was born on the campus of Westbrook College on Stevens Ave. in Portland. The family graves are some of the oldest in the Evergreen Cemetery and a sacred grove in Ferry Beach (Saco) is the final resting place of my parent’s ashes.
My father’s generation had wanderlust and he and his two brothers all left Maine and ended up in far flung corners of the country. As a kid, I remember receiving oranges from the uncle in Florida and a silver dollar for Xmas and birthdays from the uncle who herded sheep and worked as a ranch hand out west and who got his paycheck in silver. Dad was a minister and moved from congregation to congregation. My childhood had parallels to military families in frequent moves. I grew up “away”; but Maine was always the reference point of family identity. Maine ways, words, spirit imbued us. The connections to Maine had a mystic quality for me, the names of towns and places could raise goose bumps on my arm and make the hairs stand to attention.
After college, two of my three sons moved to Maine. They didn’t consider it a family thing…it was just where their work, loves and fates brought them. One of the boys used to walk his dog in the cemetery where his forbearers are buried, unaware of the connection. The other moved to OOB and then to Saco, near Ferry Beach where my parents used to take me summers when I was just a toddler. The pull to Maine is strong, like a tide that has been a long time coming in . . but inexorably returns to shore.
I belatedly took the advice or Horace Mann, and went west to California, where I expected to live out my retirement; I didn’t have a thought of moving to Maine. It couldn’t have been further from my mind. Out there, I met and married my partner and California and Japan became my focal point.
After 4 years in California…..I was feeling a bit disconnected and aware that my geographic transplant hadn’t taken. I missed New England. I missed the connection to the plants and to the woods and towns. Granite and moss and ferns and clean water and salt breezes all called to me. However, I had met and made my commitment to my DP in California and for that reason was willing to make the best of it; not too sacrificial on my part…we had a beautiful home in a lovely neighborhood and I had a church community that embraced and nourished me.
Last May, he asked me if I ever thought of moving “back east”; it was as if the flood gates had opened. “Oh my yes, if anything ever happened to you; I would be heading back to northern New England in a heart beat.” To bring this personal chronicle to a conclusion….suffice it to say that when he said, “Why not Maine?” the longing and the planning and the ordeal by real estate culminated in our finding our piece of paradise right here in Gorham. Happy? I would say so! Full Circle? It feels so in all its fullness and abundance.
I am not one to predict or overly plan for the future…..the universe leads and I try my best to keep up…..but so content to be at home in Maine.
I have to spread it around before I can rep you again. This is a great story and I'm glad you shared it with us.
My full circle was small. I was one of those people who had to get out of here when I was young. I didn't have to be gone long, or see more than one rattlesnake on my lawn, to realize there's no place like home and home is Maine. I don't think I could pry Steve out of here. In all of his travels he's never seen a state that appeals to him like home. He grew up on the ocean. You can't find that every where.
Well said, Robin.
Tried tp rep yo, but have to spread it around first,
If I click my ruby slippers and keep saying "there's no place like home." Do you think I will open my eyes in Eastport?
Oh My! excellant posts, I really need to spread it around but,... Elston your story brought tears to my eyes! You're writing is so touching. Thank you.
Elston: I understand completely that your geographic transplant didn't take. I left home in Tennessee because there were no jobs. I have been in Florida for 36 years yet I am still from away. My thoughts always turn to mountains, and water. Maine has mountains, water, and quiet small towns. They say you become a true Floridian when you can sleep in a bed with sand in it and not be bothered. Needless to say, I have never been able to do that. So, here I am 36 years later ready to bail out of Florida. I have retired, but I am still working for health insurance. Often times we are drawn to places for various reasons, jobs, family, quality of life, etc., but our hearts yearn to be where our spirit feels at home. Many people never find a spirit place. I am glad that you found yours in Gorham. Me, I'm headed a little further downeast, up to Washington County.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
