My buddy, Tim Neun of Eugene, Ore., was in New England for the holidays, visiting with his daughter and her boyfriend. I haven't seen Tim since 1996, when I left Portland, Ore. to move back home.
During my brief residency in the Pacific Northwest (1994-1996), Tim was essentially my best friend. We both worked for a company in the downtown area. Tim was the guy who turned me onto kayaking, taking me up to Siletz Bay (spelling?). He is a smart, sarcastic, funny guy.
It was great to see Tim, but the visit seemed too short and unfortunately Laura couldn't get out of work to meet him.
Living in Oregon was not the positive experience I hoped it would be. I moved there from Nashville after requesting an inter-company transfer. But it was in Oregon that I realized that geographic cures don't work. I spent more than 15 years bouncing around the country trying to find myself and hit a proverbial brick wall.
If not for Neun, I doubt that I would have survived. He was supportive, kind and generous.
On the day when I decided to load my Dodge Daytona with my worldly possesions and drive back east, the only thing that gave me pause was the idea that I might lose this valued and trusted friend.
But I knew when I started driving east at 6:10 a.m. on Sept. 2, 1996, I was doing the right thing. And, of course, it was raining.
Four days later, I drove into Saco (Maine) and for the first time --- felt like I was finally home.
For the next decade, Neun and I stayed in touch with sporadic e-mails and random phone calls.
He saw me at my worst and accepted me. It was great to see him ( no matter how briefly) when I was in a much better space.
The thing that struck me about yesterday's visit in Portsmouth (N.H.) was his daughter and her boyfriend. Just when those of us entering middle age begin to have doubts about the future, we can look at people like them and relax.
They were extremely polite and gracious, and we had a great conversation about the state of our country and our collective social values.
Five days to go before I officially begin my new job, so I need to wrap up a few more projects around the house.
6 comments:
Randy, why did you leave Maine in the first place??
I first left Maine in 1989 to take a job with the Ridge Tool Company, the makers of RIDGID tools and most well-known for their pipe wreches and bikini model calendars. During my first year, I was assigned as a sales specialists assigned to the East Coast. I was based in Crofton, MD and traveled from Key West to Caribou; Fla in the winter; New England in the summer, helping individual sales efforts in each of the 16 sales territories along the Eastern Seaboard. I was then promoted and became the District Manager for the southeast region and was headquartered in Nashville, where I met my first wife.
Now that I think of it, that's not when I first left Maine.
I FIRST left Maine in 1982, when I reported for basic training in the United States Air Force at Lackland Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas.
Later, circa 1986, I left Maine again to begin the Lincoln Tour across the United States. My roommate Dale and I found a black velvet portrait of Abraham Lincoln in a garbage can in Portland, Maine. We took that ugly tapestry with us and photographed it with different people we met along the journey, ending up in Tucson, Arizona. We pitched the tour tyo Letterman but got no response. We told people we were doing the project for Letterman and had them send letters to NBC (then the network that carried the show) on the backs of placemats and cocktail napkins from tourist hotspots across the country. The next year, 1987, I entered the seminary in Hales Corners, Wisc.; the Sacred Heart School of Theology and wound up working on a reservation of the Lakota Sioux in Eagle Butte, S.D., where I promptly fell in love with a blonde, graduate student from Marquette University. So much for the priesthood. I returned to Maine in 1988 and left again in 1989 as mentioned previously. So since 1982, I have lived in Maine, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Wisconsin, Ohio, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, California and Oregon
So there was more to life than Thornton Academy. It really takes guts to leave and see the world. We all know so many who can't take the first step and leave. Thanks for the knowledge, Randy.
Really good pictures.
Hey Dudeness,
Thanks a lot for posting my photo. I forgot to tell you I am now wanted in 14 states, Canada and Mexico. Who do you think was Abramoffs bagman?
Heads up, your blog was glossed over at one of our domestic surveilance coffee meetings. Give me a call, I know you have my number at NSA.
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