Onrej, longing for Maine...Over the holidays, I was fortunate to be able spend two weeks away from New York, at home in Maine. I had to bring work home with me and as a result, couldn't justify taking any big adventures. I'll be the first to admit that there were definitely a few stir crazy days. For the most part though, I enjoyed the relaxing time hanging out with my mom and running into people at the local cafe. I did a little flea market shopping, visited long lost pals, picked up a new craft (needle felting!!) and astonishingly, without even intending to, stopped my terrible nail biting habit!! We'll see how long I can last back in the stressful environment of the city, but so far so good. Three weeks and counting!! I can hardly even believe it. I wish I could say it was my new year resolution and take credit... but I don't even know how it happened! Something about the Maine air must have done it, or perhaps the lack of stress or need to get anywhere... what ever the reason, I sure am thankful!
One of the most fun part of my trip was seeing my mom get excited about needle felting. I had picked up a little felted animals book on one of my last days home to show her and she quickly bought it for me and herself. Then on Sunday, my last day home, when most stores close early or aren't even open, she decided to call around to see who could outfit us with all the supplies. She found a place and quickly we were off. That night we sat at the table, felting our cute little penguins together, while my mom also transferred her cds to her computer and practiced taking pictures with her new digital camera. It was fun and really reminded me of being a kid on Christmas vacation, staying up late, playing with the new favorite toy and enjoying the not-so-eventful aspects of family. I can visualize a night years ago, of my mom, gram and I sitting at the very same table, under the very same light. I was definitely testing out the hot curlers I had gotten for Christmas, but other than that I have no idea what else we were doing. Oddly, there tended to be a lot of solitaire playing at Christmastime... so that could have been it... I guess that wasn't the important part, or my brain would have remembered it.
Whenever I come back to the city I'm reminded how much I like Maine and this time was no different. I did however, make a few concrete observations that I wanted to put on a list, of why I love Maine:
- It's quiet
- Wherever I go, I seem to run into someone I know and that feels nice.
- There are a lot of trees everywhere and it smells good.
- At any given moment, no matter where you are (well, maybe not the mall) it seems like there are less than 70 people around you... usually waaaaay less.
- Tough laws for the better good: No smoking in your car with children under 16 & police are now allowed to pull people over for not wearing seat-belts.
- The Maine accent: it's a wicked good one
There's definitely more to come!