I have been asked how we managed to have two homes - the House on the Creek and the House on the Cove. The story for the House on the Creek is rather ordinary: we worked and saved enough for a down payment on our first home, and then, eight years later, had worked and saved enough (and acquired enough equity) to sell our first home and move to the House on the Creek. We were fortunate enough to have constant employment and were able to repay the loan for the House on the Creek.
While living at the House on the Creek, Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear would journey once a year to Maine. Baby Bear was allowed to invite one friend to accompany us. That arrangement allowed her to have a playmate and sister for however long we were able to come (a maximum of two weeks.) It was good for us, and good for her.
Our first trip to Maine (which did not involve a playmate) was when Baby Bear was eight years old. While Papa Bear had spent time on the New Hampshire and southern Maine beaches as he grew, none of us had been to Mount Desert Island, and so we decided one year to venture here. Crossing the bridge to the Island, Mama Bear felt she was home. In fact, she advocated that we sell everything we owned at the time (we were living in our first house) and move here and become lobster fisherpeople. Wiser minds prevailed, and while there are many places in this country and the world Mama Bear has yet to see, coming here each year was magical: it was and is a special place of respite and restoration for Mama Bear.
Over the years, where we stayed changed. On our first trip, we stayed in a hotel - we had spent two days driving here, stayed a couple days, and spent two days returning home. The next year we rented a housekeeping cottage, which allowed us to do some cooking. It had a small kitchen/dining/living area and two small bedrooms and a small bath. It was definitely a seasonal place and was about the size of our living room at the House on the Cove. We spent a lot of time out-of-doors and it was fun. One year when we called for reservations, that place was rented, so we looked around the Island for another place and found a lovely home in Southwest that overlooked the harbor. We were there for several years and then that home changed hands and we had to again look elsewhere. We tried another cottage, this time in Bernard. After that Baby Bear was either working or in college, and our vacations changed. We stopped driving and would watch for airline ticket sales. We stayed at Bread and Breakfasts or inns. We always had several days on the Island, but sometimes journeyed to other places in Maine in our rental car. We found a favorite inn in Southwest that we used each year until it, too, changed hands. Looking for a new place to stay, Papa Bear found another cottage in Bernard. We stayed there for several years.
One year, just before we were to arrive, the owner of that cottage sent Mama Bear an email. In the message the owner explained that they had subdivided the property and had built another cottage, which they were hoping to sell. Would we be interested in seeing it? Mama Bear responded that as much as we loved the Island, we did not believe we had the resources to purchase some place there. After we had arrived on the Island, the owner contacted us again, this time explaining that they would be in the area for the weekend and offering again to show us the new cottage. We decided to go see it. It was lovely. We thought it still out-of-reach. We looked at other nearby properties and found reasons why they would not work for us, too.
After we returned to the House on the Creek, the cottage owner again contacted us. They wanted to sell, and so made an offer of their bottom price. We looked at each other (it was a really good price) and looked at our finances. Mama Bear had had an aunt who had left Mama Bear a sum of money in a generic drug stock. The aunt, a school teacher, had put into her diary at the time she purchased the stock, "Advisor says this will be a good investment. We will see." She put a small amount of money into the stock at its initial offering. The company did well, and she left my siblings and I a nice nest egg. We sold the stock to cover the initial down payment and purchase expenses, and are making mortgage payments on the loan.
And so we came to have the House on the Cove as a place to which we could retire.
The rest of the story, how we came to be here so soon, is that Papa Bear's dad came to live with us. He had few financial resources and did not want to live alone or in a retirement facility, so he blessed us (and it was a blessing) with his presence. After living with us for several years, his health failed and he died. As we were journeying home from his burial, Papa Bear looked at Mama Bear and asked if she wanted to retire. Mama Bear had been ready to stop working for some time, and she asked if we could afford to do it. Papa Bear responded that it might be tight financially, and that we might have to return to work in a few years, but that he wanted to do it now. He said that what he remembered from his dad's time with us was that Dad seemed happiest when he talked about the times he and Papa Bear's mom had after they had retired and both still had their health. Papa Bear said he wanted some of those times with Mama Bear. Mama Bear admitted she would like to retire, but said that after she retired, she did not know if she could go back to work. Papa Bear said that was fine, he thought we could manage and that for now, he wanted to have time with Mama Bear and time not working and time enjoying Maine for a summer.
So here we are. In this magical place. We worked hard, we saved, we had the great good fortune and blessing of the inheritance, and somehow it has worked for us.
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