It was the summer of 1975. I had a summer job in western Maine. With 24 hours off, my destination was Bangor. Homesick, I was hoping my tired Ford Fairlane would get me there. The winter before I had replaced the spark plugs, the alternator, the battery and the brake drums. It was a great […]

Maine was in the glorious throes of autumn when the phone call came. I had just pulled in the driveway of my Old Orchard Beach home. It was my sister. “It’s Dad.” She said in an urgent voice. “He’s going quickly. I think you need to come home as soon as you can.” My eyes […]

I flew up the front steps of 2021 East 4th St. clutching a huge stuffed dog I’d just won at the holiday bingo at Holy Rosary, our parish in Duluth, Minnesota. It was late evening by then. I’d been invited to go with my best friend Ibby Kubiak and her Dad. It was my 10th […]

My husband and I moved to Maine five-and-a-half years ago. He’s from Scotland and his family all live there. I’m from Kentucky and all of my immediate family lives there. We are the ones that decided to move elsewhere for a while, but then settled away from family. So, here we are and we love […]

I was 9 when I first realized that my father was being eaten alive by the monster of addiction. By age 16, my parents had divorced after 20 years of marriage. Contact with my father was sporadic over the next decade, and of decreasing frequency. At one point I had not seen my father in […]