Hello 2023: Leaving California for Maine
A lot has happened since I last wrote here but the biggest thing is that I’m moving out of California and to a place I’ve wanted to move to for a while now: Maine…
People usually ask, “Why Maine?” and in my head, I quickly answer, “Why NOT Maine?” But the longer answer is that for most of my life I was obsessed with Ireland and the UK and wanted to live there but when I found out how tricky it is to obtain a visa (I mean, not impossible but at that point in life, I didn’t want to jump through all the hoops), I started looking for other places within the US to live.
Enter, Maine. It is the “closest” state to Europe (I mean, don’t quote me on technicalities, I’m just looking at how close it seems on the map!) and when I started researching Maine, I started liking what I saw (the old houses! The old charm! The lighthouses! Less people!). When I finally decided to visit back in 2018, there was this overwhelming feeling of “I need to live here”. I hear some people get that feeling often when visiting Maine but believe me, I don’t get that feeling often when I visit places in general.
But why would I ever want to leave the golden state where movies are filmed, where Mexican food is real and everyone lives in a mansion by the beach? I mean, that’s how outsiders view California, right? This is my home state, it always will be. But for the same reason you want to move to California, I too want to explore other places and live outside of what I’ve always known. Simple as that.
For a minute, life got in the way and I had to become a caregiver for my dad and my dreams of Maine were put away in a closet somewhere. Then, that elephant known as the pandemic hit and everything turned upside down (I mean, you know how it’s been). But still. I kept telling anyone who would listen that I wanted to live in Maine. The only way that was gonna happen sooner was if my caregiving responsibilities came with me (i.e. my parents would move with me). They are diehard Californians and convincing them to leave (literally always) Sunny California was something I wasn’t sure was worth pursuing. I didn’t want to feel selfish and make them move somewhere so far away (even though my dad has always been quite the adventurer).
But I kept talking about Maine and on days that were extra tough, it seemed like my light at the end of the tunnel. I’m sure it was mostly due to my responsibilities that I felt like I was suffocating and started associating that with California. My mom and I even visited Maine in 2019. She liked what she saw and then we went back to our (as normal as can be) lives. One day, my dad surprised me by saying, “Maybe we should move to Maine…”
After that, I will say everything fell into place almost perfectly but not without a lot of work, stress and well, blood, sweat and tears which I won’t dwell on. I won’t say any place is perfect and I know challenges await everywhere. But sometimes starting fresh is literally the only way to feel alive again.
I’m looking forward and I’m sure I’ll have lots to write!
