Peggy Miller is NOT a seasoned traveler and if you were to ask me the states that I've been to, it wouldn't be difficult to tell you~ALL 14 OF THEM. Even as a charter member of the "I Hate Math Club" I can do that subtraction and since 50 - 14 = a whole lot of states yet unseen, probably means that I definitely don't get away alot. It's time for that to change.
I cannot tell you exactly how my fascination with the state of Maine or with lighthouses ever came to be. I think a good part of it comes from reading the book, "Sarah, Plain and Tall", to my students each year. For those of you not familiar with the book, the main character, Sarah, comes to Kansas from Maine. The year is 1914, and she travels here to answer an ad from a widower named Jacob, who wishes to find a bride. The state of Kansas is such a surprise to Sarah, a shock really, when she compares our dry, landlocked part of the country to her home by the sea, Maine. She tells Jacob and his children about the colors of the sea, the blues and greens, and how she misses them. And even as beautiful as Kansas is to me, I realized that I've never seen the blues and greens she talks about and it made me wonder what it's like to be there. How would it feel to hear the ocean, to smell the sea, to walk along the rocky shoreline?
The lighthouse part is somewhat of a mystery, even for me. I've always been struck by just how beautiful and majestic these "coastal skyscrapers" appear. Could have been that I saw a photo of one on a calendar once or maybe even saw a print somewhere that really appealed to me. One of my favorite Gordon Lightfoot songs, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" mentions a lighthouse in one of it's verses, so maybe that even touched me in some way or another. Whatever the reason, I want to see one and since Maine and lighthouses seem to go together, it would appear to be a logical choice for my #1 item.
Here's where the difficult part comes in.....part of the reason why, at age 56, I've only been to 14 states is because I'm such a "home body". As a matter of fact, if I'm away from home for more than 3 or 4 days that feeling of "home sickness" starts to surface rather quickly and I actually feel miserable. I've always been that way~my entire life from being a little kid to a nearly 60-year old woman now. And what great opportunities I've missed because of that. Friends, because I'm definitely "trading daylight for dark" now, if I want to see what America's really like, then I'm going to have to leave the comforts of my own state of Kansas and find out. That may take some courage......
I've visited with so many friends about their travels all over the U.S. and the world. Just recently a friend was telling me of his journeys all over the U.S. and to be sure to see the North Eastern part of the country and all of the beauty that it has to offer visitors. Others have shown me the beautiful pictures taken there when they went in the autumn to catch the beautiful color displays of the changing trees. I believe that I'd like to see that as well.
It will take some planning on my part to make this kind of a journey happen. The first part of the planning is making the commitment of my time and maybe if I make that commitment in "print" well, you guys out there can help me "hold my feet to the fire." So, today, November 13th, 2011, I officially declare the weeks of June 1-15, 2012 my time to full fill Item #12 of the Miller Bucket List, "to go to Maine and see a lighthouse". Whew, that was a lot easier than I thought it would be. The hard part must be coming later or something.
As I plan this journey, I'd sure be interested in hearing your ideas about what you think would be fun to see and to do while visiting Maine. Perhaps many of you have been there before, or for that matter, live there now. I'm open to any and all suggestions so please, let me know!
I'm a life-long resident of Reno County, Kansas and I must say I can't think of a finer place to say I am from. South Central Kansas, especially now the city of Hutchinson, is "home" to me. We don't have the "blues and greens" that the ocean has to offer but we do have "seas of golden wheat" stretching as far as the eye can see. Each state, each region of this country, has much to offer any visitor willing to give the time to do so. I'm proud of my home state of Kansas and as Sarah did in the book, "Sarah, Plain and Tall", it is here where Peggy Scott Miller's name is written in the dirt. Wherever yours is written, rejoice friends and be so glad in it. Let the journey begin~
There's a great big world beyond my home on 14th Street~I'm getting ready to set out to find it.
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