When is Someday?
So – here we are. The “here” is Midcoast Maine. The “we” are myself and my wife – mid-50’s, pondering “what’s next”. A few details about us – I am American, my wife is Argentinian; I have a grown daughter (finishing college); we love travel; food/wine; people; and like many people our age we are starting to think about that word…”retirement”. What does it mean? Where will it be? What will we do? What do we need? All sorts of questions, and, unfortunately, no definitive answers. But…pondering the question(s) is what brought us here – to the Maine coast.
Like many things in life, serendipity played a big part. My company owns assets in Maine, so we decided to have a Board meeting on the Maine coast – in part to provide a little variety to our normal Manhattan board meetings. Flying up from NYC, I was astonished at how quick and easy it was to be in Maine – a 1 hour flight from LaGuardia and we were there. Another hour drive and we were in midcoast Maine. Perhaps it was the wonderful weather (September – warm days, cool nights, no bugs), but as I drove down the Boothbay peninsula with my window rolled down, and smelled the fresh pine scent with a hint of salt air, I started to think – “wouldn’t it be fantastic to live here?”. Now, those words have probably been spoken a million times by people visiting Maine…and I’ve thought them countless times in countless locations – the Cotswolds; the Loire Valley; Northern Italy; Northern Spain; Argentina; the Caribbean. And so, like I’ve done many times before, I sat in my bed that night, just googling around at local real estate websites, 
thinking “someday” and “what if” – and came across – The House. The One. This amazing house in an amazing setting. It was somewhat unique for Maine, but unique in a way that entirely suited us. It was right on the water (so close that, standing in the living room and looking at the water, you feel you are in the prow of a boat) – not so unique for Maine. But a midcentury modern style – now, that is relatively rare for the Maine coast, and suits us perfectly. It had a gorgeous waterfront setting, but wasn’t oversized – for many of the houses we looked at, there was a direct correlation between value of the lot, and size of the house – people usually maximize the size of the house as the value of the property increases.
We didn’t want a gigantic house to maintain. The house was focused more on open space inside and out; less on bedrooms (probably why it didn’t get immediately snapped up – most buyers were going to want to maximize beds). It was private, with a beautiful forest all around. As they say, it ticked all our boxes.
But wait… were we really looking to buy a house? We had a comfortable urban life in NYC. We loved to travel, never quite knowing each year where we’d go. And while we talked, speculatively, about where we would “someday” live, it 
was always assumed that “someday” was still down the road. Something about this house was intriguing though. I called my wife and asked her if she wanted to meet me up in Maine for the weekend – I’d just stay on from my Board meeting., and we’d have a nice weekend on the coast – eating lobster, enjoying the scenery, …oh, and perhaps we’d look at a few houses. Just for fun. Well “just for fun” turned into “I love this place” – and then we had to grapple with more questions – ”was this the best timing?”; “how would we use it?”; “would we get enough use out of it?”; “is this really where we ultimately want to retire?”
But you know what?
We took a step back…we took a breath…and we dispensed with all of the analytical thought. What did we know? We loved the place; it made us happy; we could afford it; and we were in the here and now. Many people spend a good part of their lives living for “somedays” – someday I’d like to travel; someday I’d like to learn a new language; someday I’d like to live on the water…and then you wake up one day and (if you are smart), you realize that someday is today. Listen, I’m not one of those folks that says “live each day as if it’s your last” – wow, that’s a lot of pressure on one day! I think I would end up being exhausted within a few days! But – we aren’t going to live forever. At some point maybe we all need to start actuating some of our dreams – turning them into reality. We all have dreams, right? Maybe some of our dreams are unattainable – and that’s ok. Some of our dreams, I think, are meant to stay as dreams – they are meant to inspire us for other things. However, many of us have some 
dreams that are attainable, and just waiting for action on our part. Little dreams (someday, I’m going to learn to play guitar), or big dreams (someday, I’m going to live on a beach).
So, I don’t know if we are going to retire (whatever that means), someday, to Maine. But I do know that today, we have a beautiful place on the water. We have gorgeous sunset views, with seals and lobster traps off our dock. We have a meandering stream, with many small waterfalls, creating the background soundtrack for our little walks. A place we can enjoy now. We still have other dreams – but we’re living much more for today.
I don’t know what this blog will ultimately be about. We have a lot of interests, perhaps some that you might share. I’ll be writing about food and wine and restaurants. I’ll be writing about Argentina. I’ll be writing about our experiences as we explore midcoast Maine. I might write about guitars, movies, our various travels – whatever happens to be going on in our lives. I might write about my continuing attempts to create things in a dilettante manner (homemade limoncello anyone?). Or I might just write about some of the simple things that make me happy – a crisp fall day; the sound of water; the joy of entertaining with friends and family; my daughters voice; sharing time with people I love; my wife. I’d love to have an interaction with people through this blog – so more to come on that. But for now, I hope you all enjoy life…..today!
