GOOD MORNING WORLD
(a more journal day)
Are you in love? Ever been in love? Watched a couple fall in love? Watched a movie about love? It is a process – love that is. You can almost see it in chapters like a book. Think of the last movie you watched. Boy meets girl. They like each other. They make time for each other. They learn as much as they can about each other. They decide to marry.
Now this next part may come before the wedding or after – it is a tricky part. There inevitably comes a time when they do not really like each other. It could be before the wedding as they are making plans and they do not agree on everything and they experience the first blush of arguing and trying to find their way through it. They may even separate for a bit or forever.
It could happen after the marriage when the cute little things that each person loved about each other become irritants. When this happens after marriage it is a little harder to put distance between the couple and yet as I think about it I wonder if this is not why many divorces occur? At any rate there comes a time in marriage when you wonder why you are there and want to leave. I can say with almost certainty that this happens in all marriages. The strong ones make it through this period of time. Once this is past the love is alive again and all is wonderful and a renewed love affair begins.
Well it is confession time. I am having a love affair. I have been for many years and now it seems appropriate to come out and share it with the world. Many already know of this love of mine. I love the place I was born and raised. I love Southwest Harbor, Maine. I love Bass Harbor formerly McKinley, Maine. I love Bar Harbor, Maine. I love Northeast and Pretty Marsh and Seal Cove. I simply love Mount Desert Island. I have no shame.
I believe if Toby Keith can love a bar than I can love an Island.
“I Love This Bar” is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Toby Keith. It was released in August 2003 as the lead off single from his album Shock’n Y’all. It became a Number One hit on the Billboard U.S. Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, keeping the top spot for five weeks. A bar by the same name owned by Toby Keith exists in the Bricktown area of East Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. [1] There is also a bar and restaurant by the same name located inside Harrah’s, Las Vegas. Keith wrote the song with Scotty Emerick.
I have thought about this much this last 10 days or so. When I come across the Trenton Bridge and the wheels of the car are firmly on MDI there is a quickening of my heart as I am ‘almost home’. Now there have been many arguments about this phrase in my household. My husband maintains that my home is with him. I do not disagree. Our home has moved all over the mid to north eastern part of this country. My home and heart are with him no matter where we go. His hard work made this home on MDI possible and I am ever grateful for his yes to ‘make the best investment of his life’. Not necessarily the investment in me it was more this piece of property. It was a shack really when we bought it yet I could see the possibilities despite his questioning and I could feel the roots beginning to reestablish themselves in my feet. It was a sigh of relief. The affair had begun.
A classmate of mine who became a real estate appraiser once said that when we graduated and they told us to go out to the world that they should have added that we must buy an acre of land here before we leave. It is an island and there is only so much acreage.
This time I have taken rides while I was here. I took the long way home around Seawall often and plan on leaving that way today. I took a long way around Bar Harbor when I went to have lunch with my 96 yr old aunt and her daughter – a whole other fun blog! I rambled around streets I have not been on in a long time and marveled at the changes in the structures of all I could see.
I drove on streets that had names – Clark Point Road, Dirigo Road, High Road, Main Street, Norwood’s Cove Road. The street names were not important as were the houses where Dale and Marianne and Chuck lived. It was the street that Shirley lived on that connected to the street where Suzanne lived. It was the head of the lane that held Val’s house and the long driveway to get to Liz’s house. It was the road past the dairy where Billy and Paul and Penny and Karen lived. This island is not rocks and granite surrounded by water. It is alive with memories and meanings and hope and inspiration.
Each morning I am greeted with a new view of the water with high and low tides just as each day brings new ideas and new love and new hope.
As a child I met this island the beginning of the love affair. As we grew up here I was introduced to the fun of picnicking and hiking and swimming and skating and sledding as I began to explore my surroundings. I made time for activities to enjoy this love. I saw the island through my pen pals eyes and was able to appreciate my home.
Then it got small. It was wonderful when everyone took care of everyone to help. When everyone was in everyone’s business it got stifling. I began to feel hemmed in. One of my boyfriends was suggesting we would one day live in his grandfather’s house. I dumped him. I was not ready to settle down. There was a whole world out there. I left. The love affair was long distance for many years and lackluster.
This time at the cottage has led me back to falling in love yet again with this hunk of rock off the coast of Maine. I mean I get physically emotional when I think about how blessed I am to be sitting here. The tears of joy come readily to my eyes. I am so thankful my husband helped me to dream this crazy dream of owning a piece of MDI. I am thankful we have been able to utilize it more as it is now a summer rental until we retire. AND I so look forward to retirement when I will be able to wake up here every summer morning with my husband beside me as we together rediscover this beautiful piece of the world. It is the best of what I have seen so far. Then again I am biased and having a love affair with MDI!!!
…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…
ktsquared 