MY MAINE LIFE

I am not a Mainer by birth. Let’s get that out of the way up front. For some reason, more than any other state I have lived in or visited the people of Maine are quite particular about who gets to call themselves a Mainer. I however regard myself as more of a Mainer than most of the people around me – regardless of place of birth.

My mother was born in Maine. So was my grandfather and great grandmother. I have roots here. DNA. History.

I grew up spending summers in Rangeley – the area where my relations hailed from a century and a half ago. It was while living and working in the Mount Washington Valley that I met my bride to be. After we married we started a life here in Maine. She was from the area we settled on (though not a Mainer by birth either). The city of Portland represented employment opportunities for us both and was clearly a better choice professionally than a continued life in MWV.

In 1984 we built the home we live in to this day from the trees we harvested from the land that keeps us. I have seen lots of the country and a few places around the world. Here is home. Here with my bride of over 33 years, our animals and the sixty acre wood that holds us in it’s keep.

This is an outlet. A verbal therapy. It answers my need to document, to account, to write and to share for those that care.