I’m Mainer (No Longer) Abroad now!

Welcome to the new me and the new title. (Scroll to the top).

It’s been five years since I’ve lived in Maine.  Nine years, really, but going to college about 20 minutes south of the border doesn’t change things as much as 8 hours and 20 minutes on a plane.

I’m a little nervous to be back home.  Am I going to survive the winter?  (I can’t even remember how cold it gets).  Am I going to remember Thanksgiving traditions?  Halloween ones?  The fall foliage will probably blow my mind…

But even more so I’m excited.

Celtics games, NFL Sunday, Pumpkinhead beer, the high school basketball tournament, English cinemas, Pumpkin Spice Coffee, the smell of hunting season (as I like to call it) … the list really can’t be stopped.

After deciding a couple months ago not to go back and play basketball in Europe I haven’t been able to stop talking about all the little things I’ll be able to participate in, watch, go to, and just enjoy now that I’m going to be home in Maine for the foreseeable future.

I will randomly see something in the store or be talking about an ordinary, everyday, normal thing and I’ll say, “Hey!  I will be able to do that this year!”

About a week ago I left my dad’s house and it felt pretty strange to say goodbye.  About this time every year I visit my dad and his family one last time before I head over the Atlantic.  I can remember our former goodbyes perfectly: its dark outside (I stay as late as possible), we hug each other tight, and I say something like, “I’ll get in touch with you as soon as I can.”

When I gave him a hug at the end of August I realized it wasn’t the normal one that was followed by a surreal but all too familiar sadness as I drove away.  I felt happy.  It was honestly like a breath of fresh, Maine, late summer air.  Something I’ll be able to distinguish and appreciate that much more now that I’ve been away from it for so long.