Amid an urge to hang on to a dream, I spill out into the night saying, “How great!” She says, “I’m sleeping.” It’s warm and soft and dark under the covers, but off I go. I limp downstairs in the dark to a cold thermostat, and up it goes from the 50s. Temperature wasn’t 55 quite, […]
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Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
Anne Holliday Abbott, Portland: Surprise – it’s the president
It was 1965 and a late fall afternoon in the Hill Country of Texas when a surprise visitor dropped into the newsroom of The College Star, on the second floor of Old Main, a majestic, Victorian Gothic style building on the campus of Southwest Texas State College in San Marcos. That afternoon the newsroom was […]
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Jody Rich, Waterville: Sitting separately, savoring the same dishes
Al Roker had just signed off from the Macy’s Day Parade. Ro and I stood for a stretch. “Is that a car in our driveway?” “Oh! It’s Deb!” We were expecting some potatoes. We had delivered portions of the annually requested shrimp and grits, and creamed onions, the day before to her, to Niece Elise, […]
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Carole Cochran, Boothbay Harbor: Lights, camera – minus a few of the amenities
We were asked by my brother-in-law, a film producer in California, to be in a river trip movie on the West Coast. It was to be sponsored and paid for by a national river rafting company. Not having been on the Oregon coast, or on whitewater, or in a kayak, or in a movie, we […]
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Brenda E. Smith, Belfast: Turning the tables on the family prankster
My brother has a little unsolved mystery in his life. It has perplexed him for almost 25 years. I know the answer, but I won’t tell, and I hope you won’t either. In June 1995 he turned 40 years old. Back then, 40 was a dreaded milestone, a halfway marker in life. I wanted to […]
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Kym Dakin, Yarmouth: Stomping and roaring away from an unwelcome surprise
It’s the dawn of a new millennium. My daughter Skyler is 3. I’m … a lot older than that. And there we were at the kitchen table on a snowy morning mastering the art of Monster Feet. The day before, we had just seen the movie “Monsters Inc.,” so Sky was pretty charged up about […]
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Lee Van Dyke, Portland: Waiting for the light to show me what’s really there
Two surprises to begin. When my daughter was little, on every St. Patrick’s Day, I would take her out in the neighborhood to look for leprechauns; maybe where the rascals had hidden their pot of gold. We’d sneak about on tippy toes, with stealthy, little-girl steps, looking sharp for anything green. (They wear green, see, […]
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Beatrice Talmage, Portland: A new home and a lifelong friend
It was the four of us, a Volvo 240 and a 20-foot U-Haul. We were moving to Maine. Originally, my parents had fallen in love with a charming cape in Bowdoinham. I remember that its interior was filled with unique nooks, like a kitchen pantry that felt like a secret hideaway. But, as the token […]
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Gary Moore, Cumberland: Young horseman learns not to dally on the midway
It was always a special, exciting day when we took Sugar Haven to one of the fairs to race. It was my job to bring her to her stall in the paddock, brush and rub her down while waiting for our race to be called by the marshal. I was the groom. Fetching her harness […]
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Krysteana Scribner, Calais: Chance meeting renews faith in my chosen path
Walking out of a coffee shop on a dreary December afternoon last year, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a familiar face. My high school poetry teacher, Martin Steingesser, was walking through Portland wearing his signature cap and glasses. Shuffling through a disarray of paperwork, he seemed deep in thought as he […]