I'm a Mainer.

I lived my first seventeen years in far northern Aroostook, The County. At the University of Maine in Orono, I earned my undergraduate degree in art , then got a Master's in Social Work from New York University. My first professional job was back in The County with Aroostook Mental Health Center in Caribou  where I worked for five years as a psychotherapist and office director. Meanwhile I built a house—with my own hands—on weekends and vacations on mid-coast Deer Isle. I moved there to live full time in 1982 and opened a private practice in Blue Hill, a half-hour from my Deer Isle home.

Island living in Maine, much as I loved it, is tough, particularly as a single. And Maine, for half the year, is very cold. Like many natives, I craved warmth and easier winters. In the early 1990s I moved to Tallahassee, Florida, and built a second private practice . Then I met my now-husband Drew on the infant Match.com and moved yet again, to Vicksburg, Mississippi, while he finished out his career in Vicksburg as a research biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers. 

Using our successful experience in the emerging Internet dating market, I re-branded myself as a Romance Coach and developed an online business helping singles find partners using Internet dating sites. I could do it from anywhere. When Drew retired, we moved our southern base to Tallahassee. Our plan was to spend warmer months on Deer Isle. We were able to do so for fifteen years. I made hand-dyed silk scarves, Drew built stained glass windows, we ran an airbnb rental, and we set about teaching ourselves to write. 

But 2020 and the Covid crisis brought about another change. Suddenly travel back and forth, even in our Airstream trailer, seemed too risky to attempt. So we stayed in (hot and humid) Tallahassee and looked for something different that would satisfy the Covid restrictions. More space, inside and out, plus a pool, seemed near perfection. We put our lovely Deer Isle home on the market. The real estate market in both places was hot, and we bought here and sold there in less than a month. Now we are in Tallahassee full time. It works and we are happy. But the ending of such a wonderful experience of Maine island living was poignant, though it lives on in memories. And our writing.