Heading Home

Once upon a time, I lived here in California, near Monterey. It still feels like home in many ways; I have great and loving friends, work to do, and I love the landscape, weather and flowers. But my 'people' are in New England for the most part, and it is time to go home - though it is still freezing at night, in East Boothbay.

When the father of my children decided many years ago to pursue careers which located him, and then us, outside of New England, I understood what a grand adventure life might be. I thought it would be good for my 3 boys to see and participate in a larger world, and that it would be exciting for me. It was all of that and more. We travelled the world; the boys were educated as well as is possible these days. I started and then stopped more projects than most people ever get to even begin, and for the most part, I loved it.

But when the marriage fell apart, I was caught in Paris, France, and had few resources with which to deal. I have never felt more isolated, and trapped. I knew I had to get home, and for me, that has always been Maine. It took me 3 years - 6 months in Paris, two and a half years

in Pacific Grove, California, and now I'm finally living back home in Maine. It feels good even though spring never comes soon enough, and it feels even better when I can get to California again each winter.

Home has been a lot of places for me: Orono, Maine, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Montpelier and then Middlesex, Vermont, Arlington, Virginia, Marina, California, Paris, France, Pacific Grove,

California, and now East Boothbay, Maine. I am a little bit urban, and a lot country. I loved all those places for very different reasons. I may get too old and decrepit to stay in my current house in Maine, and have to move near some family - a very nice concept I think. But Maine will forever be my geographic anchor, and I'm quite happy to be heading home again - even if I have to leave California.