Life Well Lived: Even “From Away”

Moving is usually pretty tough.  The planning, and packing, loading up, and saying goodbye.  But a “virtual” move – from one site to another, well – that has turned out to be pretty painless.  I am thrilled to be moving my little blog over to the BDN Blog site today.

I started blogging as a little hobby when my family made a career change and move from Georgia to Maine about 3 1/2 years ago.  At that time I found myself doing things that I never in my entire life expected to be able to do or even want to do.  We moved 1,500 miles away from everything we had ever known so that my husband could pursue his goal profession. I also became a stay-at-home-mom.  I have worked since I was 15 years old and never imagined that I would willingly halt a career that I had invested my life and talent into. I loved my job.  We left a community where I couldn’t go anywhere without bumping into a friend and in Maine – I didn’t know a soul.  So blogging kept me a bit sane in the moments when I felt a little homesick – or just needed an outlet when taking care of a newborn and a precious little redhead became more than I could handle.

When we moved up to Maine we were up for an adventure.  And we are so happy we took a leap of faith.

Fast forward to today.  I am no longer a stay at home mom.  A fact that I mourn and celebrate each and every day.  I found a great job. The newborn I mentioned earlier?  Well, he is a wild and silly three-year-old and the precious redhead is about to start 2nd grade.  In my posts, you will hear me reference CurlyQ and Little Man – well, those are my two sweet kiddos.  We have made wonderful friends and can’t go anywhere without seeing a familiar face.

Our Little Family

Our Little Family

Since I’ve lived here and made it through three winters now…and gotten used to the fact that we don’t really see the ground from November to April, I’ve learned about what our family is made of.  I’ve also made a startling discovery that Mainers aren’t all that different from Georgians when you peel the layers and idiosyncrasies back.  But I’m still getting a kick out of learning about the terms and traditions of my Maine friends.

Here are a few things I’ve learned about living in Maine:

  • I will always be “from away”.  I could live here 20 years and someone at the grocery store will still stop me and ask where I’m from.  I have a thick southern accent and the day that I notice that going away is the day we box up our house and move home.
  • I love being a tourist where I live.  Simple excursions are the biggest adventure for my entire family because everything is still pretty new to us.  Maine is the perfect combination of coastal life and majestic mountains – and you can sit on the beach and enjoy both simultaneously.
  • I will eat just about anything, but still don’t really have a taste for fiddle-heads.
  • Whoopie pies are a different animal altogether.  Especially if they are homemade. Yum. I never knew that they sold marshmallow fluff in bulk.

    CurlyQ's First Whoopie Pie

    Curly Q’s First Whoopie Pie

  • I never get tired of ordering lobster rolls wherever I travel in Maine.  I am determined to find the best spot for them but I’m still searching.
  • I love dairy bars and know that the snow is gone when they finally open up for the season.
  • I still don’t call my driveway the “dooryard”.
  • When you rent a house and the landlord tells you that plowing is included, that doesn’t mean that he is going to help you plant a garden.

I could go on… but this post is really about my blog move.  I started reading the BDN long before we moved to Maine.  I wanted to see what life was like in my new “home”.  I wanted to know what to expect.  Never in my life did I expect to move my blog over to the BDN site and share my words with you, but I’m thrilled to have that opportunity.

My blog is about family and friendships and marriage and our adventures – and I also like to try and encourage others in the process.  It helps to know I’m not the only one going through all of these crazy things as a mom and wife and southern girl “from away”.   I also like to open up the conversation a bit through social media… so if you would like to join in on the conversation, come join my group.

Thanks for checking in… and I look forward to sharing our messes with you.  And if you know where I can find a good lobster roll or could point me to a good camping spot, drop me a line.

 

Jennifer Collins

About Jennifer Collins

Jennifer is a mom with a day job and she likes to write about her victories and messes along the way. She is living an adventurous life as a Georgia transplant learning to thrive in Maine, with a strong Southern accent that screams that she is "from away" and a new-found love for lobster rolls and timely snow plows. Jennifer's writing has been featured on BlogHer, iVillage Australia, Daddy Doin' Work, and Mamapedia.