dear(est) maine -

thank you for teaching me how to walk in the woods without making a sound,
how to dig in the dirt with relish and enthusiasm,
how to properly slurp down a raw oyster (with a little bit of lemon and horseradish, please),
how to spin and knit and sew,
how to enjoy all of these things all at once.
thank you for your tall pines and grey ocean and fertile soil.
thank you for being the perfect home for our little family in our most important years.

and thank you for teaching my daughter the value of chickens,
for teaching her how to laugh and run and use a stick properly,
for teaching her what it means to be a real-dirt-loving-scraped-knee-grubby-toes-kind-of-a-girl.

i love you maine.
but i'm on an adventure.