The picture above is of Main Street, Rockland, Maine at about the same time of year, around Christmas time. When the snow began to fall Nanci and I looked at each other and said, "Who's idea was it to move to Maine anyway?"
Immediately Nanci pointed her finger towards me. "We could have moved to Florida," she said.
"Well I was homesick" I said.
My sojourn South to Georgia lasted over 30 years and Nanci moved down from Philly 17 years ago. Neither one of us cared if we ever saw snow again. But there you go. I was homesick and yearned to be among familiar places, see familiar faces more often, to be with my family.
Circumstances arose to make it possible for us to have our own home again, having lost our former home to a flood. We were living in mega apartment complex hell and I wanted out. Nanci agreed and so the quest began.
Real Estate prices are much higher in the Atlanta area and Florida than they are in Maine; and my projected monies matched Maine better than the south. Ergo a search for a home in Maine. Again, we could have settled in Portland and places south of there, but as I said before, I was homesick.
I came to Maine and started my search. The areas I searched first had homes that were out of my range, in disrepair, or taken before I could get to them. I went back to Atlanta very discouraged.
However, one house I looked at in Warren seemed to be exactly what I wanted and negotiations progressed via my lawyer in Rockland. The deal finally set, we began to pack and we informed the complex we would be leaving at the end of our lease, October 31.
Before we left our friends in the South, we took some time off to enjoy what the area has to offer. We returned to see the Medieval Times show with the beautiful dancing horses. When everything was ready to go we got a friend to watch and feed Butchie for us and headed for Orlando and Universal to immerse ourselves in Harry Potter's world. We had a wonderful time and got to spend some time with a Florida friend. We had no idea Kim would be gone from us a few months later. We miss her.
Because of all of the above, it was November before we got on the road to our new home in Maine.
Along the way we visited her family in North Carolina and Morgantown, Pennsylvania. Oh, by the way, we got legally married before we left by a cute judge in Gwinnett County, Georgia, named Hillary.
Butchie did not enjoy the trip. After a while he resigned himself to being put in that darn cage and plunked down on top of the pile of stuff in the back of the HHR; only to be put into another strange place for the night. A strange bedroom; a cellar; another strange bedroom. Until he smelled familiar things in the new place I don't think he thought he'd ever have a real home again.
Guess what, when we got to Warren we couldn't even stay there for the night. The furniture didn't come till the next day anyway and besides we had to set flea bombs off throughout the house because the previous owner had three dogs. The vents all had to be cleaned of wet dog hair before we came also. The next day we had to leave Butchie again and go back and wash the floors with pine sol before we dared to let him in the house.
Oh, and the house smelled too, as our cleaning lady informed us while we were still in Georgia. But once the pine sol hit and cooking smells filled the house, we were fine.
As it happened, these problems were just the tip of the iceberg. Would you like to know what we've had to do since we moved in? Here's just a parcel list:
New vinyl siding because the original siding was not much more than pasteboard; a small deck out front and new steps. The old steps weren't even erected correctly to begin with. New supports under the house and especially under the deck around the back of the house. The beautiful sunporch we found was just sitting on the deck. Replacement of some of the boards of the garage. Removal of $700 worth of junk around the property. We've replaced the water heater, the oil barrel and had a radon bubbler installed because there was too much radon in our water. We also relocated the washer and dryer connections from the cellar to upstairs so I wouldn't have to carry laundry up and down stairs.
And the list goes on. Every time we think we have just a small project it turns out to be a bigger one because of the mess the previous owners left things in.
In spite of all these new homeowner woes, however, we still enjoy living here in the house in Warren near those who love us and among good people. Maine really is "what life should be."
We have no one living on top of us. We can stroll our property and not see another person. Yet we are close to things. Nanci has a job and the Subaru her mother wanted her to have. As I look out my office and watch the first real snow of the season fall on us, I count my blessings. I am home at last and I couldn't be happier. Merry Christmas, everyone.
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