To the editor:
We came home last week — after 35 years.
My wife and I started our family in Caribou 35 years ago. As a young airman at Loring AFB, it was our first assignment away from our native Florida. We learned a lot about life, living on our own and survived our first real winter. We also made lifelong friends with native Mainers and have stayed in touch all these years.
As a young man, filled with wanderlust and the itch to see the world, I could not wait to leave this place. However, as life unfolded and took me to 31 countries, several wars and the largest cities in America, something kept pulling me back to The County. I cannot explain it. There was a yearning calling me back, even though I didn’t want to admit it.
Finally, after we retired, we decided to return permanently and could not be happier. Take it from me, for many young people, Aroostook is a place you can spend the first 50 years of your life trying to get away from…and the last 50 trying to get back to.
I stopped in a local deli for lunch for the first time and went to pay when the clerk said, “You’re all set. Come back and see us.” She refused payment. Now, I know what makes The County so special: it’s large enough to accommodate you but still small enough to appreciate you.
It’s good to be home. I’ll never roam again.
Father Andrew Merritt
Caribou
