This Is Why I Like Maine

Yes, I always hold my cards this way.
STOP CHEATING BY LOOKING!

The first year of marriage was rough. The Wife was not happy. The Husband was not happy. There's a correlation there, but we won't get into it.

We had 17 sets of guests come to visit us in our first 12 months of marriage. Many were family members, showing their support for us living in Utah by making the trek from Florida to visit (and ski). Friends came out to ski. Friends came to hang out. We were busy.

In our first six weeks in Maine, we've had six sets of guests, putting us on pace for 52 sets of visitors over our first year back in Portland. You might expect the pace to slow down, but there's skiing in Portland and I'm actually closer to my family in Florida, so who knows what the final tally might be. Perhaps we should wager on it.

The thing is, we love it. The Wife was bouncing around the kitchen Monday morning after a workout. This is not normal activity on multiple levels. Our friends, Nutmeg's parents, came to visit with their dog, Nutmeg. I know. My blog nicknames need some work.

They were only here for 24 hours but we had a blast. I walked out of work to a local tavern establishment where we all enjoyed a pint and a game of cornhole out on a huge patio. The boys carried on to a dining establishment with a deck out on the water while the girls went home for their beauty rest.

The next day we did touristy stuff and ate brunch and played games in the back yard until I had to go to work. Somebody's gotta pay for the opulence in which we live.

This is what life looks like in Portland. We play games. We hang out with friends. We walk to work. Molly Lu and Nacho Man are regular backyard guests; the last two days have seen Nacho Man on my couch because I have a PlayStation and air conditioning. Jo-Jo Dancer hangs out with TW while I'm stuck at work. Sweet Emeline (bom-bom-bommmmm) stops by or TW spends the night at SE's new home.

My Internet-mostly friends, Lobster and Farm Fresh Ice Cream, will be arriving in August. They're flying in. Because you do, when you're coming to visit us. We're fly-worthy.

Friends are important. I've noted this before. We are simply overwhelmed at the bounty of friends we have here.

And more are on the way. Belle is moving up to Portland and it's all because of me. Or in spite of me. Belle came up from Boston to visit us on my birthday. We ate potato donuts (amazing), played disc golf, played pegs and aces in the backyard and drank beer in the backyard. Oh, and she met a boy. They are now a thing, which is great, because I can combine their first names to form "Candy," their new couple name!

That's why houseguest No. 7 is coming up this weekend. Belle is coming to Portland on Saturday and meeting up with the boy, so Candy will be spending the night. Though Belle will be looking for an apartment, I'm not too worried about her overstaying her welcome. After all, guest No. 8 is likely coming soon.

I'm sort of expecting my Dad to show up one day with little more than some clothes and a lawn chair. We'll grunt at each other in the mornings, neither being big on talking in the first hour out of bed, and he'll wander out the door with his lawn chair to set up shop in a park with a book. He'll look up occasionally to see a 1,000-foot oil tanker sail in or out of the harbor and go back to his book.

It's a different pace for a guest, but we'll put up with it. After all, he pays for most of our meals out together.

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