Sometimes you can go back

Thirty-seven years ago, I can't believe that's possible, I was a graduate student at UMO (University of Maine at Orono). Heck, who am I kidding, it's already 27 years ago that I was doing a 2nd masters degree at USC (South Carolina) but that's irrelevant to this story. In my one of my first classes at UMO I met a guy from Moncton, NB, and we clicked. He and his wife are those rare friends that you can pick up with at any point as though you were together all the time.

at UMO outside the Education Bldg.

Of the seven people at our wedding, they were two! We spent this past week with them, arguably a dangerously long time, revisiting some old haunts and finding new ones. We're still friends! One morning at breakfast we laughed so hard my ribs hurt. We tried to be quiet about it but when we were leaving the dining room a woman stopped us to say how much she enjoyed watching us laugh till we cried. I don't think a day went by without lobster, and certainly a few bottles of beer and wine were imbibed, but mostly we wandered the coast of Maine and got caught up with each others' lives.

view from our Belfast hotel rooms

intent on something?

Both men's names are Jim and both women are outspoken so the men's heads were snapping back and forth and enjoying if the scolding-of-the-moment was directed at the other. Which they played up, of course, poor brow beaten souls that they are.

in the harbour at Bar Harbor

buildings on stilts/pilings in Camden

Portland (Maine) brownstone

Beans started as a hunting outfitter and that's still a big deal in Maine

outside L.L. Bean; the famous Maine Hunting Boot

I had three main (Maine) destinations in mind when we set out: UMO, Bar Harbor/Mount Desert, and LL Bean in Freeport. And yes, you can go back sometimes. Sure, we are a lot older, and LL Bean is a lot bigger (I discovered they even have other retail outlets in the east!), but in essence the places and people haven't changed. And that's comforting.