Dirigo

I was born and raised in Maine

I left when I was 17 for college in upstate New York

Then I moved to the mid-west
Then I moved to Massachusetts

I've not lived in Maine since I was 17
But I still call it home
And I still think it is the best place I've ever lived
And not just because when I lived there my Mum did my laundry

Maine started out as this little territory where the Norwegians used to come to hang out with the Indians and trade stuff
Then the British and the French showed up
And the fighting started

The British fought the French
Then the British fought the Americans
Then the Americans won and "rescued" Maine from becoming Canada

And Maine became part of Massachusetts
We were physically separate from Massachusetts but they still bossed us around

We've had a love hate relationship with Massachusetts ever since

Maine tried more than once to secede from Massachusetts
It did not happen until March 15, 1820
It was on this date Maine became the 23rd State of the Union as part of the Missouri Compromise

And it on on this date in 2017, we say Happy 197th Birthday to the Great State of Maine

Today, I live in Massachusetts
But my heart, my love, my loyalty is with Maine

I love Maine

And not just because we have multiple official and unofficial state slogans:

Dirigo
It Must be Maine
Vacationland
There is More to Maine
The Way Life Should Be
As Maine goes, so goes the Nation
Worth a Visit, Worth a Lifetime
Where America's Day Begins
Maine: We're Open for Business

I love Maine for the pine trees, blueberries, and moose
For the salty sea, the fresh air, the endless night sky and rocky coast line

I love Maine for whoopie pies, Amato's and Humpty Dumpty chips

I love Maine for the Green Bridge, the big globe and the Indian Statue

I love that everyone in Maine has a blue tarp in their trunk just in case

I miss the no nonsense practical way people think and talk

I miss the things we say in Maine:

In Maine, things aren't cute, things are cunnin'
We don't have basements, we have cellahs

In Maine, we don't hit people, we deck 'em
We don't throw things, we either chucked it, hucked it or winged it

In Maine, it's not likely, it 'taint likely
We don't get worked over in a business deal, we get rooked

In Maine, its not that we don't care, we don't give two shits
And we don't kid or joke around, we shit you not

On weekends, we go upta camp and inta town
And we don't run, we book it

In Maine, we don't remember the time, we 'member that time
And we don't steal things, but we kife it

Also, dinner is only on Sundays, every other day we have suppa
And things aren't close by but instead, are up the road apiece

In Maine, people are not eccentric, they're a rig
And we don't ask what you are doing, though we may ask Chuppta?

When you are a kid growing up there, you don't appreciate Maine as much as you do when you are an adult who has moved away

As an adult, my appreciation, pride and fondness for Maine swells with each year I'm gone and everything I realize Maine has given us:

Acadia and Baxter State Park
The Portland Head Light and Fort Knox
Monhegan Island and Eastport
Sand Beach and Sandy Point
Green Lake and Bass park
Funtown and Old Orchard Beach
Dysarts and Hussey's
The Penobscot
The County

Blueberries and fiddleheads
B&M Baked Beans and Brown Bread (in a can)
Stonewall Kitchen and The doughnut hole
Toothpicks and Earmuffs
Reny's and LL Bean
Togus - the hospital and the cat
Moxie and Whoopie Pies

Brian Butterfield and Bob Stanley
Dorothea Dix and Milton Bradley
McDreamy, Linda Lavin and Judd Nelson
Bill Cohen, Mrs Sullivan and The Busch Family
The Kearns Family
The Demaso Family
Winslow Homer and the Wyeths
Sal, Jane and Burt Dow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and EB White
Margaret Chase Smith, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe
Paul Bunyan and Joshua Chamberlain

Tourney Week (February Vacation)
The Bangor State Fair
The Blue Hill Fair

3,500 miles of coastline

Your one syllable name

The Maine Stein Song

The 16 Counties of our State
And not just the actual counties but the song we all had to learn in grade school

To this day, I still hum that song for no reason
I taught that song to my husband just because
And I don't care where you are, if you start singing that song, any Mainer within a earshot will start singing along with you
True story
It's how I made friends with this guy I knew in 2004
I was at Wellington Station, started singing that song (who knows why) and this guy started singing with me
Turns out, he had just moved to Medford (he lived one street over form me) and was from Rumford
We sang that song, hung out a bit that summer and then he moved back to Maine because he hated Massachusetts (it was too loud, too fast and smelled funny)
He's right

I love Maine
I love everything about it - except Cape Elizabeth, they are so snotty

I'll live there again someday....I hope anyway....on a lake....or Cadillac Mountain if they'll let me

But until then Maine, Happy Birthday from afar

I miss you, I love you, and I adore you

You lead Maine and I follow

Happy 197th Birthday Maine!