Bath Time Begins

It's Bath Time! Well, it is almost Bath Time. Today is actually Super Bowl Sunday, February 2, and I am in Chicago, which is about 1,100 miles from Bath, Maine, the inspiration for this blog. What do these two cities have in common? They are both cold in winter, and the residents all know how to live with snow. On a more personal level, they are both home to me, but I am not from either place; rather, I have come to these cities by chance, by luck, by choice. Joe, my husband of almost 35 years, and I will leave for Bath on February 14, Valentine's Day, for a winter weekend in Maine's cool little city, the City of Ships. And if you could, you might ask "Why Maine in winter?" And my answer would be "Bath is beautiful every season of the year!" But Joe and I can only be there from time to time, not every day, because we work in Chicago. So we, like a good number of people we have met in Bath, are part of a Seasonal Society.

Our Bath Time this February will be especially poignant because it marks our one year anniversary as lovers of Bath. I am not sure the term "Maniacs" applies, but we are mainly happy in Maine. That's a statement I can stand up for, and I can tell you that the last twelve months have been rather euphoric. Just when you think life is ordinary, you can discover an extraordinary place where you never looked before, and suddenly you feel a little giddy and even a bit dizzy with the newness and the beauty of it all even if the place has been there for hundreds of years, literally hundreds! So yes, after a weekend visit in February, 2013, we returned in April, and then in June we bought a 1830's Greek Revival style home on one of the loveliest, most historic streets in Bath. And that, without a thread of doubt, is the craziest thing my practical, cautious, "let's think about this some more" husband and I have ever done!


Our new, very old home in Bath, Maine may appear to be the focus of this blog, but truth be told, and it will, it is the community of Bath that enchanted us. It was Elizabeth, the innkeeper, at the Inn at Bath, and her guests that weekend who shared our exuberance for all things Bath. There was a big snow storm that weekend, but it didn't hush our laughter or conversation. It was a truly magical time for Joe and I, and our son, who came along that weekend with his girlfriend to escape Boston and work. It was Bath Time! We all felt the wonder of it. We suddenly wanted to take up bird watching, and a guest at the Inn, a Maine writer, suggested the perfect guide to birding easily obtained at, of course, L.L. Bean.  The twenty-somethings looked wide-eyed at a new activity beyond technology. So Bath really is Maine's cool, little city, and we find ourselves waiting for our next time: Bath Time!