A few days in Maine

It was finally ALMOST time to leave New York. So i called and left a message for the women at the management company that was renting me my apartment. Naturally i wanted to confirm our appointment for me to sign my lease and pick up my keys. After leaving her a message i scheduled my U-Haul for the following day and continued to get amped up and ready. But to my absolute shock...i got a call the next afternoon. Just 18 hours before i was planning to hit the road for Maine and only 2 hours after picking up my U-Haul and packing it full, I got a call back. "The apartment isn;t ready yet. We'll just have to set an appointment for next week" Naturally my response was my chin to the floor.

There are a ton of cliche's about Maine...Many of which my own friends have picked fun at. Nothing to get defensive about though. There can plenty said about New Yorkers...not even going to go there. But the one thing people laughed at me for...was the state's welcome sign. "Welcome to Maine, The way life should be"
People ask...."Now what in the hell does that mean?? The way life should be....hmm toothless, flannel flaunting, L.L. Bean wearing...what else Jackie, I don;t get it. Haha"
But truthfully, there's a serious sense of calm in this state. A sense of calm that you can;t call boring. There a ton of stuff to do in Maine...365 days a year. But the sense of urgency isn';t there constantly like it is in New York. The high taxes, the stress, the traffic don;t exist here. The fact that you can leave your garage open for your cat to come and go as they please and not worry about being robbed because people look out for one another. Everyone waves...people are courteous!!! Your neighbors don;t avoid you like the plague...they say hello and how are you. There is nothing nicer to me that saying hello to someone or holding a door for someone...and they are genuinely thankful and sincere. I love that i am not surrounded by 100,000 dollar cars and million dollar homes. People here drive normal 30,000 cars and live in beautifully kept homes that suit their lifestyle.

A walk around my sisters neighborhood with my neice in her stroller on a monday morning. The street was quiet and peaceful. All i heard was the buzz of a weedwacker in the distance, birds, bumblebees humming loudly flcoked in a tree blooming with beautiful flowers. And it took no more than 5 minutes to put my niece into a peaceful sound sleep.