{I'm excited that this might be the start of a new once-in-a-while series around here - taking you with me to some of my favorite spots around this town I love so very much. For all the photos that I take, I have this silly little shyness about taking photographs out in the world beyond my peeps. Partly because I try to be mindful of other people's space and privacy, and partly because I'm just plain shy. There's nothing like sticking the big appendage of a camera on one's nose to draw attention to oneself, you know? So yeah, this might be a fun, new, good growing kind of thing. Though, true confession, Steve took almost all of those photographs above (because he's nice like that), and so scratch everything I just said. Next time....}
158 PICKETT STREET CAFE
158 Benjamin W. Pickett Street
South Portland, Maine
Do you have places in your world where you are always met with a flood of memories of times past? That happens for me here. I'm met with not only awesome food (um, really really good stuff), but sweet memories too.
Nine years ago, as a twenty-four year old new Mama, I spent a lot of time at this sweet spot. We lived nearby at the time, close to the very neighborhood I grew up in, actually. I was a young, new and sometimes a little bit lonely Mama trying to find my groove. It was the spring that my baby was just a wee little one that I heard about this new little neighborhood bakery right nearby, and it wasn't long before it became a place he and I loved. When my husband would leave for work in the morning, I remember looking at this infant in front of me in puzzlement. I loved being a mother, I felt more 'me' being a mother than I ever had in my life, and yet I was perplexed by my new role too. What were we to do all day? Who was he? Who was I? More often than not, when these questions appeared, or when the tears came (his or mine), or when boredom struck or chaos hit.....we walked. With my chubby, bald, beautiful, intense, smiley baby boy, I walked and walked and walked. I would pop him in the sling, or in the stroller, and we would walk along the shore (ever so grateful to be living by the shore). Many of these walks, on more days that not, we ended up at 158 Pickett Street (One Fifty Ate back in the day). There, on the comfy couches, I hugged my caffeine, I read while my baby slept on my chest, or I just sat and watched and listened to the adult conversation I was so craving at the time. Soon, as I began the work (oh, it is work new mamas - hard and important work) of finding community, this very spot became a gathering place for meeting with new, like-minded mama friends and their babes. Friendships were formed, community was created, and babies were born and added to the crowd.
Eventually, we moved away. First, very (very) far away into the North Woods and then a little bit closer. Close enough that now we can visit every so often. Our visits now are in many ways so different than they were those years ago. With now a slew of little ones (okay, just four), the visits here have changed to a more rushed and energized pace. And with the increased energy of the place itself (because it's just so yummy and now everyone knows that), the space has had it's own flurry of changes too. And perhaps most powerful to me of all - nearly a decade of time, growth, and settling-into-myself has ensued. Lots of life has happened.
But oh, how I do love it when we visit now. The friendly vibe and familiar faces remain the same, the shore-side hometown locale brings me peace, and I'm comforted by these memories and the way they transport me back to those magical, challenging, transformative, wonderful and precious early days of our family.
Not to mention they really do have the yummiest bagels in town.
