Once, during my first winter in Maine, I told my grandmother (a born and raised Minnesotan) that the temperature had not risen above zero degrees Fahrenheit for a whole week. And, in the way that only a grandmother can, she told me to get over it. She said that the cold makes your blood thicker and you eventually get used to it.
At the time I was a little disappointed that she didn’t find the weather as shocking as I did, but I realized that the cold is something to which you can always adjust. It’s easy to pull on another sweater or don another pair of socks and there are always coffee and other warm things available to thaw your bones.
Those who choose to live in harsh places learn to adapt to their environment; they adopt a certain independence and free thinking that makes their lives compatible to the challenges that they face.
As a native of New Jersey, I was used to hearing that I was crazy for choosing to go to Maine for college and then for accepting the Fellow position on an island in Casco Bay. Northern New England is far different from the tri-state area: the winters are colder, the storms are rougher, flannel is much more common attire, and the wildlife is, well, wilder—yet, I have still not seen a moose.
So like my Minnesotan relatives, it takes a special kind of person to live in Maine, but it takes an exceptional person to live on an island in the gulf.
As the Fellow working in town hall here on Long Island, I’ve had the opportunity to witness first-hand the community’s fierce independence and creative solutions to the unique challenges of living on a one-square mile island.
For example, when one is sick or seriously injured on the mainland, an ambulance isn’t far away to transport the patient to the hospital. However, on Long Island, the patient and hospital are separated by four miles of ocean. As an emergency medical technician, I was particularly impressed by the Long Island Fire and Rescue’s ingenuity in retrofitting a lobster boat with all of the life-saving equipment and capabilities of an ambulance. EMT’s are taught to “improvise, adapt and overcome” and that is certainly a mantra that this community has taken to heart.
Furthermore, due to such obstacles as negotiating ferry schedules and harsh winter storms, it is not always feasible to hop off the island for a night on the town. In response, this tight-knit community makes its own fun through potluck dinners, ice-skating, sledding, and children’s holiday concerts. Even gathering at the store to watch the Super Bowl includes about a dozen faces, a large lobster pot and a beer-dispensing soda machine.
Whether it’s making fun or making work, islanders certainly do more than make do.
When a street light falls off the dock, islanders fish it out, cut off the rusted bits and put it back up. If the power goes out, someone will be there with their car on the dock to use their headlights to guide the ferry. Life may not be easy here, but islanders find that the challenges they face give this island and its people its unique character.
So, is it a little crazy to live on an island in the sea? Yes, but it offers the opportunity to grow and adapt and as my grandmother said, it will thicken your blood and you will learn to adjust.
Erin Crowley is an Island Fellow on Long Island in Casco Bay through AmeriCorps and the Island Institute.