We are looking for a place to homestead in Maine.
That feels so good to say. We really love it here and feel that we belong. A visitor recently told me that she didn’t feel like she belonged where she currently lived and was looking for a place where she felt comfortable.
I told her that we were looking for the same thing, and we believe we found it here. She asked me why and if I believed she and her partner would fit here. As we talked, I wondered about place. I realize that each place is not right for everyone. Just because we love it here doesn’t mean others would. Although we can’t imagine it. : )
I thought about this the whole day. Is there a “perfect place.”
Of course, we are in an ideal place until October. Each morning, I walk into the house at The Good Life Center
and say, “Thank you, Helen and Scott for this place.” I don’t know if they would have imagined that this place would be here in 2023, and that their original place up the hill would still be taken care of by our good friends, Ned and Scout.
We are doing our best to keep the legacy alive in a real way. As many things do, people and things often get skewed over time. We make heroes out of ordinary people who where just trying to make a difference.
I just finished Ellen LaConte’s book On Light Alone: A Guru Meditation on the Good Death of Helen Nearing. Now, I’m rereading Loving and Leaving the Good Life by Helen. I can feel Helen in this house; her spirit is so strong here. Although I never met Helen, I feel that I know her through her books and sitting in her library looking at all of the books she loved.
It is important for those that follow to remember the work of the ones that come before. Ron and I are doing our part to keep this legacy alive. I hope Scott and Helen would be happy with us.
