It has been far too long since I have written a Cup. Quite frankly, I have always tried to keep these columns on the lighter, more fun side and lately I simply was not in a place to create such material.
There has been a great deal of change here at the newspaper. Two of our staff — Steve Cowett and Gloria Austin — are moving on to other ventures. When you work in a small office, your co-workers tend to become an extended family. So when someone leaves, you are happy for their new opportunities, but also saddened by the fact that you will no longer see them on a daily basis.
Dave Bates, Wanda MacIlroy and myself extend our sincerest best wishes to Steve and Gloria as they embark on their new adventures. It will not be the same in this office without them.
Change is something that I have historically fought against and resisted almost to the point of acting like a 2-year-old. Just ask my wife, she will attest to that fact. But, as I have learned first-hand, life is too short to waste time dwelling on things one has no control over. If you dig your heels in, and try to stop an ocean’s tide from coming to the shore, chances are you will simply get nothing but wet in the process.
Speaking of getting wet, my family took a quick, but much-needed weekend get-a-way to make our annual pilgrimage to the ocean. My wife, Charity, spent much of her life near the ocean and I too spent 12 years living along the coast of Maine before we decided to move back to Houlton.
Spending the weekend, soaking up the rays and listening to the ocean surf pound onto the shore was both peaceful and invigorating. While the water was a bit too cold for me, our youngest daughter had no such problem rushing head first into the oncoming waves until her lips turned blue.
It was also an opportunity to visit some of my wife’s family as we camped out at her brother’s house in Somerville. I have never been a fan of camping, as the notion of sleeping on the ground is less than appealing. I like the comfiness of my own bed, but my wife and girls enjoy the experience tremendously so I can survive one or two weekends a year “roughing it.”
Our first night was an adventure as we listened to the sounds of nature while sitting around a campfire. The soothing sounds — birds chirping and loons off in the distance — were soon replaced by dogs barking until past midnight. There was also a screech of some kind that to me resembled the calls made by trackers in the “Finding Bigfoot” show, but I downplayed it to the kids, saying it was probably just a bird.
Thankfully, those sounds subsided for a few hours, only to be replaced by the calls of multiple roosters crowing sometime around 5 a.m. It made for a much earlier-than-anticipated start to my day.
Spending three or four hours in a car has also changed dramatically from the time when I was a kid. When both my wife and I were children, the games consisted more of “count the red cars” or “who can spot (insert an animal).” Our children, however, came packed with enough movies, video games and music with headphones that we probably could have made it halfway to Florida before they ran out of stuff.
And while it was great to get away, it is also good to be back home, settling back into a regular routine. My wife is already planning the next adventure. After all, there are only a few more weeks remaining for summer vacation before it is back to school time.
If you are looking for something to do in the greater Houlton area this Friday and Saturday, come check out Potato Feast Days (see story on Page 1 of today’s paper) or the Ties That Bind Quilt Show at the Houlton Higher Education Center.
Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for the Houlton Pioneer Times. His opinions are his alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper. He can be reached at pioneertimes@nepublish.com or by phone at 532-2281.
