Our son was 8 months old when we decided to leave our sweet little Brooklyn apartment… ok it was a bit more complicated than that (our apartment was sold, we couldn’t afford the neighborhood, blah blah blah… you get it). We decided to cast a wider net and began looking at small cities on the coast of Massachusetts and upstate New York. We were not in a financial position to immediately buy a house and decided to move in with my parents for the interim. We stayed with them for a year as we saved, searched, and eventually, bought. We landed on Portland, Maine after a weekend visit inspired by our good friend from Brooklyn who was also contemplating the move. My husband is a freelancer and travels for work so, technically, all he needed was an airport close by.
I was so caught up in the most pressing challenge of leaving our home with a new baby and making the right decision for our son that I didn’t properly think about how difficult it would be for my husband and me. We were saying goodbye to the city we never thought we’d leave. We were official Brooklyn residents for just over decade, mere freshmen by most New Yorkers’ standards, but we came because we loved everything about it, even on those days when we felt bruised and battered by the hustle. There was also the small matter of saying goodbye to our neighborhood community, my brother, our best friends… To feel alive was to walk out my door to the inimitable energy and the perfect weirdos of the Brooklyn streets. For 10 years, that feeling was never lost on me, not for a moment. “Goodbye to all that.”, as the great Joan Didion said.
We miss New York every day, and often spend an afternoon salivating (while simultaneously retching) over Trulia listings. Yet, Portland has given us so much. The proximity to the ocean and a remarkable group of friends (many of whom have also made the move from Brooklyn). It has now been 18 months. Our second child was just born, 3 months old last week, and my husband is away on his first work trip of the year. India for 17 days. This amount of travel will be our reality for the foreseeable future as Portland, for all of its charm, does not have much in the way of local production work.
So here we are! And this is my blog to lay out the parent resources I have found and the strategies I have employed to deal with consistent, and sometimes extended, travel by my partner. Although some of this information is specific to Portland, Maine, I think much of it can be applied to any city for any parent in a similar position. The number of parents who travel for work or work remotely for a portion of the month is growing and I believe there is a true need for a support network.
xoxo