Reflections: Maine or Bust… Looking Back on My Grand Mid-life Crisis Adventure
October 15, 2015
In the fall of 2008, I embarked on a cross-country, life changing move from Los Angeles to Eastport, Maine with my daughter, her cat, and all our belongings jam-packed into a 6′ x 12′ U-Haul Trailer. The journey cross-country was as jam-packed as the trailer, with my friend Mario behind the wheel, we set out to make it cross-country in breakneck speed, traveling from Los Angeles to Rock’s Village, Massachusetts in 4 1/2 days. Mario had volunteered to get us safely from point A to just north of Boston, from there I would be on my own driving to Maine. As luck would have it, once arrived in Massachusetts, another dear friend, who recently passed away, stepped up and attached my U-Haul trailer to his 8-cylinder SUV to haul it up to Eastport for me. A bit of what prompted me to make the move and what happened once we located follows…
In the summer of 2008, I realized that it was time to leave Los Angeles. The thought had been nagging at me for some time in fact. Nevertheless, the opportunity arose that summer, to put down roots back on the east coast and I jumped on the chance, despite the fact that the new roots were 3500 miles across country in small coastal city in northern Maine that was polar opposite to Los Angeles in both size and culture. Eastport, Maine my destination, boasted a population of about 1500 year round residents, with another 1500 summer residents. It was truly one of those places in Maine that provoke Mainer’s to say, “You can’t get there from here,” as the only access to Eastport was a 7-mile road off of U.S. Route 1, that ended in Eastport.
My friends in Los Angeles thought I had lost my mind when I told them of my plan to move to the eastern-most city in the United States. I thought the idea of living of in a small coastal Maine city after 20 years in Los Angeles, was a delightful idea. I was done with the hustle bustle of the big city. I never even wanted to move there. It was way past the time for leaving. Time to move on. Coastal New England had been beckoning me home for a few years. Eastport seemed to be a great alternative to moving home to coastal Massachusetts where I grew up. I had always loved coastal Maine as a youth and a young woman. The Atlantic Ocean was in my blood.
On October 19, 2008 with a 6’ x 12’ U-Haul trailer full to the top and attached to my SUV, I struck out across country with my daughter, her cat Zeus and my friend Mario behind the wheel, to get us safely moved across country. One the side of the U-Haul trailer my daughter hung a sign that said, “Our Bailout Plan: Maine or Bust,” in reference to the Great Recession of 2008. My small business was struggling with the economic crash and the logic was with much cheaper rent in Eastport, Maine, I could keep my business afloat.
The move had aptly been named “My Grand Mid-life Crisis Adventure,” in response to everyone’s queries on what drove me to do such a crazy thing. It was simple really, at the root of the move was my longing to live closer to nature and I had family living in Eastport. The photographs I had seen of the area invoked all of the things about coastal Maine that I loved. Rocky cliffs, tall pines, birch trees, bald eagles and of course the ocean. Much to my surprise when we settled into our apartment in a little blue mansard, that was a short two minute walk to the ocean, I found that Campobello Island blocked the view of the big Atlantic.
Eastport, beautiful as it was, was too polar opposite from Los Angeles for both my and my daughter’s taste. Within a few months of six-hour treks by car to the area where I grew up, I swiftly realized that Eastport could not hold a candle to Newburyport, Massachusetts. I learned from my move that what I really longed for was to live in the place where both my daughter and I were born. Seven months later, we packed everything into a U-Haul truck and moved home to Massachusetts. My grand mid-life crisis adventure continued, as I followed yet another longing. This time I got the location right. Home was truly where my heart was and where we belonged.
