Easy come, easy go. (not always)

One of the hardest things to get used to living out here is living by the boat schedule.  Especially during the winter months.  The schedule is such that the boat only runs three times a day.  On Sundays it is even less.  There is only one boat that leaves Northeast Harbor at 3:30 and arrives at 4:oo.  Of course the coast of Maine is a rugged place and the weather can change everything.  

That is what happened to us last weekend.  We went off to visit family in Searsport for Saturday night.  Our plan was to come home on Sunday afternoon.  The weather didn't cooperate and so we had to go to our backup plan.  That is we stay with our friends the Breedloves in Hall Quarry.  They are so generous with the use of their in-law apartment which sits above there garage.

So instead of being gone one night, we were gone for two.  If we lived on the mainland like most people it's no problem.  Of course we have no control over the weather, and we certainly don't want the captains or the boat to be put through any unnecessary risks we would have done anything to be home that night.  There is something nice about starting the week by waking up in my own bed.  Instead we awoke early so that we had time to repack the car with the groceries that we had bought on Sunday night, which we had to take out and put in the Breedlove's garage so that they wouldn't freeze.  Then catch the 8 am boat, bring our stuff up to the house and put it away.  Then I got changed to go to work.  Ugh!

Just when I feel like living on this island can be such a pain, I take a moment to look back across the water at the mountains of Acadia and remember how unique my situation is.  Few people get to experience this way of life today.  Island life encourages us to slow down.  We have learned to use our off island time wisely, we spend very little of our life rushing from here to there.  I see the inconvenience of an unscheduled night off island as a reminder of how much I want to be here, and how much I miss the island when we are gone.