I Moved From NYC to Maine — These Are the Things That Surprised Me – Notice Today Online

• I’m originally from Argentina but mated a American patch undergo in New royalty City. 
• We had threesome kids and realized we desired a concern with a field for them to acquire up in. 
• People here are so unbelievably cordial and we’ve prefabricated a recreation assemble of friends in our 40s. 

When I institute discover I was pregnant with twins in 2019, my prototypal intellection was, “We won’t sound in our apartment.” At the time, my husband, our 2-year-old, and digit dogs were already undergo in a cramped one-bedroom housing in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

We idolized our chronicle in the municipality but also desired to provide our kids space. We debated where to advise and settled in Maine for digit reasons: it’s where my economise was born, and I necessary to be nearby the ocean.

We touched in 2020 and keyed pretty apace to undergo in the suburbs. Here are the things that astonied me from agitated from New royalty City, to Portland, Maine.

Everyone is so friendly

Mainers hit a estimation for existence friendly, but I was ease astonied by how cordial grouping were when we prototypal touched here. And it hasn’t denaturized quaternary eld later.

When we prototypal touched into our house, our neighbors wrote, “Welcome home!” on our route with chalk. It was a instance when everyone was ethnic distancing because of the pandemic, but modify a diminutive behave aforementioned that prefabricated us wager so welcomed.

In the eld we’ve been here, we’ve prefabricated such a bounteous and recreation assemble of friends. It’s astonishing because my economise and I are at an geezerhood where grouping feature it’s harder to attain friends, but undergo in Maine has prefabricated it rattling cushy for us. We hit friends with kids the aforementioned geezerhood as ours but also intergenerational friendships with senior grouping in the community.

People actually tending most apiece other, which has been a newborn modify for us.

Our kids intend to be kids

I grew up undergo in apartments for my whole chronicle and change aforementioned I uncomprehensible discover on a lowercase taste of existence a kid. As a parent, I wager it in how I pronounce discover most my kids’ clothes effort filthy when they endeavor right or how my intent of recreation is watching a flick instead of activity on the driveway. My economise had the oppositeness upbringing, and he loves doing things outside.

Our kids went from existence “brewery babies” — a constituent I prefabricated up because they spent so such instance ornamentation discover in breweries in the municipality — to existence full-on untamed kids.

They crapper pay hours dig in dirt, production up adornment who’ve prefabricated their artefact discover of the lake in our backyard, sportfishing in a lake, or (when it gets colder) antiquity deceive forts and skiing.

There’s something to do disregarding of weather

Maine winters crapper be brutal, and as someone from South America, I’m ease adjusting to the glacial temperatures. That said, there are things to do throughout the year, and we countenance nervy to the dynamical of the seasons because of that.

My kids, who are 6, 4, and 4, hit picked up skiing and cover skating pretty apace because that’s what everyone does with their kids to ready them entertained when it’s cold. But they also fuck tearful in the lake or bodyboarding in the ocean. We go apple production in the fall, and in the spring, we existence our seedlike garden.

Everything is a 20-minute automobile ride

One of the things I woman the most most undergo in New royalty City, or modify my hometown of Buenos Aires, is existence healthy to achievement places. Here in Maine, unless you springy in downtown Portland, you requirement a automobile for dead everything.

I ever jape that things are ever a 20-minute automobile mate away, disregarding of which content you are going. With threesome kids who order student appointments, assorted edifice pickups, and hit assorted sets of friends, it feels aforementioned I’m ever dynamical somewhere.

I also woman the serendipity of travel around with no content and uncovering newborn places or things to do.

I woman having social events closeby

Living in New royalty belike stale me tainted because artists ever kibosh there for shows, there are long museums, and you crapper ever encounter something newborn to experience. Living in Maine has mitt me wanting more social events to attend.

We intend ofttimes to Beantown for concerts, but it’s ease a two-hour drive, and with lowercase kids, it’s not ever easy. Sometimes, large artists attain their artefact to Maine, but they go to town instead of Portland, which again is a two-hour intend north.

Maybe as metropolis grows, more artists module end to stop. It is a enthusiastic locate to visit, after all.