Maine and He

 With all his parents hopes and dreams about the move from city life to rural living, Antonio recalls thinking later on, perhaps his parents had been a bit naive. Neither had ever lived in a small town, neither had lived away from all immediate family and neither had to make it in a brand-new environment. Both Antonio's parents had been born and grew up in the suburbs of Boston and now they were going to reside in a town that had a total population of approx.4500.

Antonio's parents had chosen well when they decided to move. They had used some savings to place a deposit on a home and property in town and had chosen a town that had a variety of manufacturing industries. Neither would know that over the next 20 years, those places of business would slowly close up shop, leaving many people unemployed with no real options. Antonio's hometown has lost 25% of its inhabitants from 1990 to 2020. 

Antonio told me that he learned his work ethic from his parents. His father was a welder and machinist who worked for a machinery shop in the town they moved to. Antonio said that he remembers his dad going to work 6 days a week and eventually having enough capital to open his own outdoors shop. This would not have been possible in Massachusetts because of the more restrictive gun laws. 

Antonio's mother had one more child once they moved to Maine and still "worked harder than any other mother" he knew. Raising four children, two who remembered a previous life much different than the current one was challenging at times. 

Antonio said that he always felt welcome in town though he did mention that he would sometimes get a few double looks in the summer when his skin would tan dark. He spent so much time outside, he said he could always "pull it off". The largest part of his feeling a bit alienated was his name. It's a very uncommon name, both first and last and definitely placed him a bit more outside than the typical names in the area. It was not uncommon again to need to correct people or to have to spell out his name to others. 

Antonio and siblings