When I was about 11 years old, my family and I went on our first trip to Maine. I was captivated by the smell of the ocean, the roar of the waves crashing through “Thunder Hole,” and my first taste of lobster!
On that trip, I bought a small figure of a sailor smoking a pipe and wearing a yellow coat. When I returned home, I placed it on my desk, just above eye level. Working on homework each night, I stared at the figure wishing he could answer the questions.
When I went off to college, the figure got boxed up and subsequently went missing. While at an estate sale in Little Rock a few years ago, I purchased this replacement figure, and with it returned countless fond childhood memories of that initial trip.
Next year, my firstborn son goes off to college–hopefully to his desired school in Maine.
