My wife Linda and I have enjoyed Longfellow’s Greenhouses in Manchester for many years. Linda purchased plants there for her flower and vegetable gardens, and we enjoyed walking through the greenhouses with their beautiful flowers.
So I was very pleased to receive a copy of Mavis Longfellow’s book, “A Long Journey,” with wonderful stories about her 90 years of life. Mavis and her husband Lawrence opened the greenhouses in 1976, and their son Scott and his wife are now the owners. Mavis and Lawrence bought a house just down the road from the greenhouses, and even after Scott took over, she still worked there.
Many of her stories include important advice for us. A lot of them feature her six kids and 14 grandchildren, whom she taught to deal with others in a respectful way. It’s clear that she really loves every member of her family. Her stories of her family experiences in the Great Depression and World War II were interesting.
Mavis and Lawrence traveled all over the United States and Canada, and her stories about those trips brought back great memories of mine, because we visited many of the same places, including our favorite national parks, Glacier in Montana and Big Bend in Texas. They visited Alaska three times, and so did I.
I especially liked her story of taking the ferry to Prince Edward Island before they built the bridge to the island. We did that too, and I remember waiting in line for hours to make sure we got on the ferry.
And her story of the 1998 ice storm reminded me that we lived in our dining room for 2 weeks during that storm, keeping the fireplace going and lugging our water in buckets from the stream beside our house.
A lot of her stories are important messages for her kids and grandkids, including wonderful letters she wrote to them. And the book includes poems, some of which were written for family members for their birthdays and Christmas. And some of her stories were published over the years in this newspaper. I always enjoyed those columns.
Mavis even shared stories about the pandemic, and some good advice, noting that “the pandemic is taking its toll on all of us. … Severe deprivation of physical needs has severe consequences, but so does failure of relationship needs. I would add to those the need for introspection, for quiet time, for inspirational nourishment, for personal improvement activities, for continued learning, for seeking satisfactions, for setting goals and working at reaching them, and for intellectual stimulation and growth. Another random thought: There is nothing wrong with being different, being an individual.”
And this advice is very special: “Live your life so you will have no regrets. Actually, that is probably impossible — but you can try. Do what you know is the right thing to do. You will be happy doing it. Love and value your family, your mate, your children — and TELL them you love them. Life is so much better when you have people to love who love you…. It is family members that you are with for the long haul. Be polite, thoughtful, and loving toward them. It pays off.”
Reading her wonderful stories, you will know Mavis lived her life that way. But it doesn’t mean there were no tragedies in her life, including the death of her husband after a long marriage.
At the beginning of the book, Mavis wrote “Just as going home for a visit with family brings people back to a connection with their roots, so (hopefully) my book will be a legacy that will benefit my children and their families, and other readers, in much the same way.”
Mavis also wrote: “Maybe you will pick up this book, my gesture toward immortality (along with the quilts I made) and realize how much I have put into the writing of it. It has been a valuable project for me, and my hope is that it will be a positive addition to the lives of others, even on a small scale.”
Don’t worry Mavis. Your book is all of that and so much more. In fact, tomorrow I’m going to start reading it again!
George Smith can be reached at 34 Blake Hill Road, Mount Vernon 04352, or georgesmithmaine@gmail.com. Read more of Smith’s writings at www.georgesmithmaine.com.
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