Loving Through Dreams

 This morning, I dropped my sons off at the Mount Desert Island High School and as I turned the car around in the parking lot, I  faced the mountains that border the property, Suddenly, I felt like balling, stopping the car and just letting the emotions rip.  The view was the exact one my mother and I had shared on a visit here long ago.  It reminded about the bittersweet nature of the passage of time.

My mother and I  on campus for an event, stood at the threshold of an open door and gazed at the beauty that surrounded us.  We had spent the weekend on Mount Desert Island hiking and such in Acadia National Park.  It was my first visit.  I was fifteen years old.

Standing in that open doorway which some believe to symbolize discovery and connection with the natural world, I announced, “I’m gonna live here someday.”

When I graduated from college, there were few teaching positions available.  I was granted an interview in Bar Harbor.  It wasn’t until I drove across the bridge onto Mount Desert Island that I understood that I had visited here before.  I got the job. 

My mother was able to enjoy Acadia for more than twenty years.  For this I am grateful.  The ping of sadness that hit me out of nowhere, reminds that I miss her. Standing in that doorway of Mount Desert Island High School and proclaiming a future that came to pass was an important moment.  One that I will always cherish and my mother was there to love me through my dreams.