I picked, quite possibly, the worst time on the calendar to move to Maine. Of all the stretches on the calendar where Maine highways could have embraced me out of loneliness, I opted for the unfailingly congested Fourth of July weekend Y2K. Most of my belongings had already made the trek up from Boston's North Shore a month prior. That first weekend in June, I landed in Portland in time to catch the Old Port Festival, another weekend fracas. The prevailing thought was, "If this party is what Portland is all about, then this place is for me!" The blue neon glow of the Sebago Brewing sign was the first to offer an invitation, and then later, it became a landmark when street names became blurry.I had called Maine home before; my family lived in South Paris for the first few years of my life, and later, Portland for a year. But this was certainly different, this relocation. For the first time, I was relieved to move away from everything I knew. The close of a seven-year career with my band ended right before my first visit to Portland in June. A four-year relationship was over a few months before that. It was glaringly obvious that I was done there, and needed a new home, if one would take me.
Now a month later, in a box truck with my mattress, drums, and thrift-store furniture, I was sandwiched into peak Turnpike traffic. The place was littered with Massachusetts plates, all weekending. After a few moments of complete stop and radioless U-Haul silence, I exclaimed out my window, "Jesus! Can't you people see I'm trying to get home?"
It was complete. Portland, and Maine in its entirety, had me back again. Hell with Vacationland, I want to stay.
_Todd Richard
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Related:
Exploring deep within, Olive Café, Letters to the Portland editor: May 1, 2009, More 
- Exploring deep within
Hannah Holmes, the Maine-born, Portland-dwelling science writer, naturalist, and friend to all animals has turned her lens deeply inward in her latest book, The Well-Dressed Ape: A Natural History of Myself .
- Olive Café
Solid tastes at Olive Café
- Letters to the Portland editor: May 1, 2009
Is Rick Wormwood an inbred Maineiac as some would speculate?
- German birthday cake
Tuesday's gift from Portland's Choral Art Society to German composer Felix Mendelssohn, on the occasion of what would be his 200th birthday, will be one of his greatest works (Elijah), and one of their biggest undertakings.
- A mighty wind
This past Earth Day, President Barack Obama, speaking at an Iowa wind-turbine factory, delivered a gusty peroration. "The nation that leads the world in creating new energy sources will be the nation that leads the 21st-century global economy," he said. "America can be that nation. America must be that nation."
- Photos: Stetson Wind in Maine
Photos of Stetson Wind in Washington County, Maine
- Classic retro
Opened 20 years ago on an odd bayside corner, the Back Bay Grill looks seasoned rather than old.
- Teach a woman to fish...she'll never want to leave
The cluster of small shacks that comprise Jim's Smelt Camp in Bowdoinham look like a tiny shantytown; were that it was so — I would move right in.
- As the Pro Jo turns
A full-page advertisement that ran on page A7 of Monday's ProJo featured an illustration depicting a workshop of flinty Amish craftsmen busily building what the headline called an "Amish mantle and miracle invention" that helps "home heat bills hit rock bottom."
- Light that failed
How has Maine's term-limit law, restricting legislators to eight consecutive years in office, been working since it was approved by voters in 1993?
- The rain in Maine
If you're planning a trip to Vacationland this summer, be sure to bring your galoshes — the "gay storm" that's been satirized all over the Internet rolled into Maine last week.
- Less
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News Features
, Maine, Portland, Paul Reubens, More
, Maine, Portland, Paul Reubens, Chris Gray, Franklin Arterial, winter, Great State, Less
