M is for Maine

My family used to visit Maine quite often when I was younger. I have an uncle who lives in New Hampshire and when we would visit they would take us to the outlet stores in Maine. We also visited when doing the Trail program which I talked about in K is for Katahdin.

Anyone who knows me knows I am obsessed with animals. So it is no wonder that my two favorite memories in Maine are seeing a moose for the first time and seeing loons for the first time. I’m not sure where the photographs we took on that vacation are because it was many years ago and we have so many photo books. Maybe someday I will take the time to look through them all…

When we saw the moose we were taking a walk in the early morning. There was a fog lifting and not many people were awake yet. I saw a large animal in the distance and I asked my mom what it was. She gave a delighted gasp and told me it was a moose! The first moose I had seen in real life. (They are much bigger in real life.)

We were taking a bike ride in Maine and came to a pond. A bunch of odd looking “ducks” were swimming around making the weirdest noise I had ever heard. I asked my mom about them and she told me they were loons, not ducks. She bought me a bird field guide so I could look up new birds I found.

Posting this just made me quite sad, thinking of how many memories I have with my mom, and how some things change so permanently. Missing Memories. Memory also starts with M, as does missing, as does Mom. And mourn. I will stop now before bumming everyone else out.