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A sad day we thought we’d never see.

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I’m sure by now you’ve all heard of the crazed gunman on the loose in Maine. He shot and killed 18 people yesterday at two locations in a town a half an hour from us.

My husband’s cousin bowls at the site of the first shooting.

The gunman’s car was found abandoned less than a quarter mile from my husband’s other cousin’s house.

A third cousin is a police officer tasked with searching for the killer.

We have friends and family in harms way.

As I write this we are still under shelter in place orders in our town.

In Maine.

Where this sort of thing doesn’t happen.

Until now.

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I read the following on a woman from Maine’s Facebook page today. It says everything you need to know about us.

💕

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Ah, Maine.

Majestic, beautiful, glorious Maine.

We live here not because it’s the most convenient, or because there is an abundance of opportunity for great success…

In fact, it’s the opposite, really. It takes forever to get anywhere, and don’t get us started on the weather…or, please do because we secretly love to talk about it, argue and complain about it.

We live here because our hearts are here. We are Mainers.

We live here because even though Maine is ‘YUGE,’ if someone asks, “Do you know ‘So and So’ from whatever town you’ve said you’re from, chances are we do know ‘em. Sure we do!

We live here because we can live through blizzards and freezing temperatures every year, and won’t hesitate to help shovel out our neighbors or push strangers cars out of snow banks…even if we are wearing pajamas and slippers.

Mainers.

We wear shorts until it snows and roll our windows down as soon as we hit 40 degrees in April…a tough breed, if you will.

We think you’re weird if you don’t like Lobster or if you’ve never heard of Fluff…but we’ll talk to strangers like we’ve known them forever, hold the door and wish them a good day.

When anyone from outside of Maine asks where we are from, we just say, ‘Portland’ because, well…you know.

We live here. We love here. We know each other and love each other.

Mainers.

We wanted to think that this could or would never happen here.

We are blindsided today.

We are stunned, scared, confused, sad, pissed, worried and feeling all of it.

But we are feeling it together.

Our eyes have been cruelly opened and our magnificent state is forever changed.

But we have not changed. Our Mainer hearts are still beating together.

We need each other more today than maybe ever before.

None of us are alone, you are not alone.

Reach out to neighbors today, help whomever needs it. Keep your pajamas and slippers on if you want, grab a Dunks and be a Mainer.

Pray and send positive thoughts to the victims, thank law enforcement, first responders and healthcare workers. Give blood.

When the dust settles and the devastation lessens in time, we will all still have each other. And together we will be ok again…

Someday.

Mainers forever.

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36 thoughts on “A sad day we thought we’d never see.”

  1. Before I sold my hundreds of 78 rpm records, I had this very record in my collection. I hope it, along with the accompanying century old photos, speak to you of “the good old days” and help assuage the pain of today in Maine:

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  2. I woke up this morning and saw the news of the shooting in Lewiston. My first thought was of you, hoping and praying you and your hubs and all your friends, families and neighbors were okay. I’d be lying if I said that hearing this didn’t take me right back to August 3rd, 2019. When that very thing happened here, in my hometown, at the Walmart. The very Walmart where my youngest son had been to the night before. It’s a sad, sad part of the society we live in today. When mass shootings become normal nightly news, when shootings like this narcotize and who we are, there is something very wrong. Stay safe my friend 🙏💜.

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  10. I’m so glad you’re OK. Last night when I heard Lewiston described as a small community where people knew each other I thought, Well, doesn’t that describe Maine? It seems like a big, little place, and I thought of you and your husband, of everyone you must know. And I thought, this has to stop.

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    1. Thank you. Maine is a state of small rural towns and close knit communities. Lewiston is our second largest city with a population of 36,000 but even so, a lot of my friends know people who were killed. It hits hard.
      😰

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  11. When I heard this horrific news, you and your husband came to mind first. Untreated mental illness, brings so much havoc and devastation in our world. Be safe, thinking of you guys.

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    1. Thank you. Gun culture is strong up here with politicians bowing to pressure. We have some of the most lax regulations in the country… no background check etc. That may change now, but it’s a hard lesson to learn.

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    1. It’s quite surreal right now. No one on the roads….stores, schools, restaurants all closed. Huge kale enforcement and FBI presence but they have no idea where he is.

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  15. What a great tribute to Maine and its people. I’ve been checking the news every day and I see that he killed himself. I knew he would, cowardly bastard. And anyone reading this, please don’t lecture me about his mental health. Frankly, right now, I don’t give a shit.

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    1. Time and time again it comes down to mental health. This man was walking around telling people he heard voices who told him to kill people. He was under psychiatric care for two weeks and released… with all his guns. There are a lot of people up here who know the family and say don’t blame them, it’s not their fault. No, but they knew this guy was unstable. They could have removed his arsenal.

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