Summer in Maine

I have lived in Maine now for 26 years. I have owned two properties, paid property taxes and car excise taxes, and raised three children on this Northern New England soil, but yet I am still not a Mainer and never will be as it is a birthright. However, all of us residing in this naturally beautiful state have same feelings about the summer.

 

Maine…The Way Life Should Be…especially in the summer. Tourists flock to our state from far and wide to enjoy the blue sky, comfortable night air, vastness of the ocean, beauty of the islands and mountains. It is a peaceful, tranquil, escape from the rat race of the city. Maine is a refuge from the heat of the southern states that snowbirds embrace in the winter.

 

Our office is very busy in the summer as we welcome individuals enjoying this special season in Maine who also require our support in managing their cancer. A cancer diagnosis does not necessarily mean that life can not be like that of any other summer tourist. The care team at New England Cancer Specialists “picks up the pass” from the home team to ensure that needs are met just as they would have been in another part of the country. Relationships are made, and we add new friends and family to our medical home. As fall approaches, we create summaries, scan imaging studies on to discs and copy blood results for the return home for the winter months.

 

And we wonder what life will bring to our new summer friends.

 

As wonderful as it is to welcome a new guest into our home, the departures are always with mixed feelings on my part.  What will happen to this individual over the next months? Will they be OK? Will we ever have an opportunity to see them again? I am certain that they feel the same. Summer in Maine always creates memories.

 

And then the most wonderful thing happens! As promised, the earth travels around the sun again and we start over again. Another summer comes to Maine and we see our patient friends again. The uncertainty of the departure is converted to the certainty of survival. The stories are not finished, and there are more delicious Maine summer days to enjoy.

 

Welcome summer visitors! Welcome Summer in Maine!