Mainely, it was a wonderful summer...

It really was. What could be not wonderful about summering in "Vacationland"? Blueberries aplenty, whoopie pies left and right, Kennebunkport beaches, the Bush family at Sunday church service, friends in Ogunquit....ah! and theatre, how could I forget theatre?


What an equation! All wonderful things. Did some not-so-wonderful things occur? Of course....but with the summer behind me now, it was Mainely awesome...mainly.....


You know when something almost seems too good to be true? That might have been my summer. A fantasy-type of situation. Every moment of it was vivid and true, but how realistic is it? Is summer stock in general just a dream? I was getting paid to do what I love most of all every single day in a quaint tourist destination. AND I had a bike! Oh the wonders a bike can do. This is the second time in my (semi) adult life when a bike has brought me such elation. The first being in Amsterdam this past New Year. Now, a bike in Maine....it was the best $79.97 purchase from Wal-Mart I could have ever made.


See, the thing about a bike is you're purely independent (Ok, you tandem bikers, if you're even reading this blog then please, enlighten me as to if it's really as easy/much fun as it looks). You and you're bike...it's a blossoming relationship. I won't go so far as to take the 'man's best friend' title away from our beloved canine friends, but this summer, maybe....just maybe....my bike was my best friend.


Let me set the scene. We begin with.....a day off.


A day off in Maine, rolls wonderfully off the tongue, rings harmoniously in the ears. I have a day off, perfect weather, a bike.....and the most important thing of all, not a single plan on my agenda.


I take off. 

There are houses....far apart, though. 

I'm amazed by everything I see. 

There are train tracks. 

And horses! 

I'm flying. On this bike ride I see everything I could have ever dreamed of seeing (alpacas included). There is no stopping me. I'm capable of anything.

There are beaches! And in Maine you know when you are coming to a beach because the road breaks off and there is a single stretch of street that eventually turns into sand. And all around you as your ride down that path, is this terrific marshland you'll ever see. The water is glass....a picture frame of the sky.

And the beaches...

...good gracious. I'm transported...

I ride on.....there are friends.....and there is family

 

food, and food, and food. 

 There is church

there are even brothers 

 and Erics...

 and....

Well of course there were also shows and performances and performances and shows and theatre and theater and theater and theatre. Almost every night! 

but they do close.

                                         ......and close......

...and close.

And my bike ride too, comes to a close. I pedal forward and take a second to look back on my path to see an entire summer in a place that feels and seems only like a dream; where I felt and experienced new things with new people in a new place. It feels like a dream because now I am awake, a little bit more back in the reality of relationships and jobs and life, itself. But it was a great dream.