Smell: The salty, crabby ocean in Portland.
Touch/Feel: The burn in my legs as I pedaled up a steep hill with a heavy bag of postcards on my back.
Sound: That world-stopping moment when you’re driving on a highway in a monsoon – so thick the windshield looks like ice – and then you drive under an overpass and it’s dead silent for a half-second.
Taste: Sweet cookies n’ cream…
Sight: Winding through the leafy, gold-lit corridors of the White Mts at sunset
Memorable Moment(s):
-In Portland we stayed with my friends Dave and Becca and their dog Alma. Dave is one of my oldest and best friends, and he has an interesting story…after college, he worked in insurance for a few years, hated it…then one day decided to quit and move up to Maine to become a boat builder.
That sounds amazing – and it is – but it’s much easier to write a sentence like that than to actually uproot your life and make it happen. He spent his first year in school – learning all the ins and outs of the trade – and, after another year or so of struggling, has finally landed work with a schooner company, sailing and keeping up the boats.
I’m gonna try hard not to over-romanticize this…because he works six days a week (including Fri, Sat. Sun. nights, all night, in a restaurant), and has hands like sandpaper to prove it…but it’s pretty cool. He left a cubicle in a fluorescent-lit office building with windows that didn’t open and now goes to work in shorts and sunglasses and nothing in front of him but the horizon...
When was the last time you made a decision that so drastically affected your life?
If you were to get up from your computer now and make a big change – what would you do? Where would you go?
Just things to think about…
------From Portland we drove west to Conway, New Hampshire. Just about every town in America has not only a public library, but several blue signs pointing toward the public library (must be a law)…which is the perfect starting point, as the hub of any local community.
“Hi, we’re doing a community art project that’s about preserving and sharing memories, and raising awareness about Alzheimer’s Disease. We’d love to get some of the local members of the community to participate. Is there someone we could speak to?”
[Woman scanning books.] “Say what now?”
“It’s an art project. Perhaps someone in programs?”
“Oh, sure, sure. What sort of programs?”
“Art programs, writing programs, programs with seniors, programs with kids…”
“We do have a writer’s group…”
“When do they meet?”
[Looks behind her at clock on wall.] “Twenty minutes ago.”
So we crashed the Conway, New Hampshire writer’s group. There were about fifteen participants, casually dressed, mostly over fifty, sitting in a circle, workshop-style! “So, we have some newcomers here…what’s your story?”
“Well, this may sound a little strange but…”
Photos
Our digital leave behinds...
The awesome people at Local Sprouts in Portland liked the project so much they suggested I stand on a table and say "Excuse me everyone, I apologize for interrupting your lunch, but..."
Ice cream break in Naples, Maine...
The Memory Mobile makes another unscheduled stop....
I was invited to come speak about the project on Good Day Maine (video below).
WPFO FOX 23 | Maine, Local, News, Entertainment, ME
On to Vermont!
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