We just spent the week in Maine visiting my sister. My family and I have visited the state many times. The people in Maine - or Mainers - are a fascinating group and I enjoy getting to know them and even watching their interactions with others. This year the depth with which I was already considering this thought of people watching brought a new level of interest. A couple of stories may help you see this through my eyes.
I believe the first time we visited Jaye was in 2000. The kids were relatively young - 10 and 7. Everything was all new to us and we were going to be there for nine days, so packing was far from light. This was also prior to the time airlines discovered they could charge fees for everything. Anyway, we flew into Portland, gathered the untold number of our bags and then drove two hours to Jaye's house. About three hours later, I looked for the camera bag and it was nowhere to be found. In mentally retracing our steps, we determined it had been left sitting on a bench in the airport. I immediately wrote off the bag and all of its contents, knowing it would have been found and removed by this time. I was ready to move on.Jaye, on the other hand, convinced me that we should drive back to Portland as the bag would still be there. Off the two of us went, with me truly believing we were on a fool's errand. I was wrong. When we got to airport security, our bag as there, and the only issue they had with the situation was that I didn't have information on the bag for them to find me. They had gone through everything: found my gym pass and had even called them to see if they could help find me. Of course, who thinks to keep your local gym up to speed on any address changes, so of course they were of no help. The security officer's biggest concern was their inability to locate me so I wouldn't worry. I was blown away.
Off we went, back to my sister’s house, with me shaking my head about how nice the people were in Maine. To emphasize the point, just before we got home, Jaye told me to pull over to a roadside stand since we needed tomatoes and strawberries. I pointed out that the stand was closed, and with an exasperated wave of her hand, she told me to just pull. After choosing what she wanted, Jaye looked around to find something else - a cash box. Inside were slips of paper, a small amount of cash and a note that simply stated, “Write down what you got and leave the cash in the box. Thanks.” As you could expect, I was DONE for the day. What was this place?
Now fast forward thirteen years. In that time I think that I have visited eleven times, once in the middle of the winter when there was no thought of tourists or how to treat them. Last week we were preparing for a friends and family celebration and of course we needed to go to the grocery store. After coffee at Jaye’s kitchen counter one morning, off we went. We wandered around the store, gathering the needed items and it struck me that everyone we met in the aisles made really strong eye contact, but unless I said something, they really felt no need to converse at all. This seemed odd. In my state, there is little eye contact, but when it occurs, we feel the necessity to speak, if even to just say hello. Way different.
So, to follow up on my experience I asked Karen about the near encounters in the grocery store. She explained that by commenting that since there was obviously nothing that needed to be said, why would you speak. Karen is a Mainer, through and through.
As I wrote last time, look around and be amazed by the unique differences you see in people. Enjoy them and think about what drives them. It can really help you to have a stronger insight into another member of the human race.
I need to get back to the Toybox. I haven't been out there for a couple of weeks and am craving the smell of sawdust. Sooner rather than later. Maybe this weekend.
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