09/19/2026
This is it. We’re really doing it. ❤️
The car is packed, the U-Haul is behind us, and we have officially started the drive to North Carolina.
I knew this day was coming. I planned for it, packed for it, talked about it endlessly and counted down the days. But there really isn’t a way to prepare yourself for the moment when you actually pull away and realize that a chapter of your life has ended.
Leaving Maine is so much more complicated than leaving a house or changing an address.
I’m leaving behind people.
People who started as coworkers and somehow became family. Friends who showed up for me during some of the hardest moments of my life and celebrated with me during some of the best. People who made me laugh until my stomach hurt, listened when I needed to vent, checked on me when they knew I wasn’t okay, and made ordinary days a little brighter just by being there.
Some of you came into my life through work. Some through plants and the little community that grew around Brouse House Gardens. Some were neighbors, acquaintances or complete strangers who somehow became people I will never forget.
And some of you stopped being “friends” a long time ago because family is really the only word that fits.
That is the part of moving nobody can fit into a box.
You can pack the dishes. You can load the furniture. You can dig up plants and carefully wrap the things you don’t want broken. But there is no box big enough for the people, memories, inside jokes, hugs, conversations, traditions and tiny everyday moments that made a place feel like home.
There are people in Maine whom I genuinely cannot imagine not being able to just drive over and see anymore. And I think that reality is going to hit me over and over again in the coming weeks.
Maine gave me some incredibly difficult chapters, but it also gave me people I would never trade those years for. People who changed me. People who loved me. People who reminded me that sometimes the family we collect along the way can become every bit as important as the family we were born into.
And then there’s 48 6th St. 💚
That house held so much life. So many memories. So many plants. 😂 It became the home of a ridiculous little idea called a Free Plant Library that somehow turned into something bigger than I ever imagined. Through that tiny library, I met people I probably never would have crossed paths with otherwise—and some of those connections will stay with me long after the house itself belongs to someone else.
Yesterday, Maine was home.
Today, we’re somewhere on the highway with our lives packed behind us, headed toward North Carolina and whatever comes next.
I’m excited. I’m scared. I’m hopeful. And if I’m being completely truthful, my heart hurts a little too.
Because sometimes you can know with your whole heart that it’s time to go and still be devastated by what you’re leaving behind.
So to my friends, my coworkers, my plant people, my neighbors, and every person who became part of our lives here: thank you.
Thank you for the laughs. The hugs. The encouragement. The kindness. The memories. Thank you to the people who showed up when life was messy and to the ones who stood beside me when I needed it most.
Distance doesn’t get to erase any of that.
North Carolina may be where our next chapter begins, but there will always be a piece of my heart in Maine with the people who made it home. ❤️
So… here we go.
Goodbye, Maine. Thank you for the people. Thank you for the memories. Thank you for the chapter.
North Carolina, we’re on our way. 🥹❤️🏡
