It took me nearly nineteen years of living in North Franklin County Maine to realize how much this area and its people mean to me. I lived the spring of my youth on the banks of the Androscoggin River in Oxford County.
My father was a mill worker and my mother was a house wife They taught me the importance of family and surrounding yourself with good people.
I met my husband, Dana in my home town of Rumford, Maine. We hit it off and he whisked me off to his home in Phillips, Maine. Phillips was not all that far from Rumford, but it seemed like the other end of the world to a young woman in her twenties who had never really been far from her family.
I bet you it took me nearly five years not to drive back home every weekend to my family. I missed them. The people were nice around here, but I never really felt like I fit in with some of the women that my husband was acquainted with. They had all know each other since most were young girls and I felt that I would never have those same kinds of connections with them. The issue was never really with them. It was with me and how I felt about myself.
I think that the best decision that I could have made for myself was to immerse myself into the heart of the community. I volunteered and began working for the school department. I got to know some really great people. People that I have come to love and call, friends.
My mother still lives back in Rumford and Dad has passed away. I still go to Rumford to see her. I often think that if she was not still there, would I still consider Rumford, home? The answer is easy. No. Home isn't a town or a house. It's where your heart and family are.
