Delia Mohlie runs on curiosity. It’s what keeps her and her husband Ted birding. She pays attention to the changes happening. It’s why she paints – to study and to learn. In fact, it’s what led her to read a post on Instagram about a fungus growing in a alder catkin. And that evening she and Ted went out to study their own alders. And there it was in the catkin. The fungus! But first, a little background. Delia grew up in Connecticut and met Ted in college. After Ted’s medical school and residency, Ted set his eye on a family practice in a small town working with multiple generations. He found it in Waldoboro with Doctor Waterman. It was 1987. Moving here wasn’t hard for Delia. Her mom had grown up in Seal Harbor and her Maine grandmother had taught her about living in a small town: make sure you look your best when you go out visiting.
It was terminal curiosity that got me into town government. It was wanting to know, “How does this work? Where did these numbers come from?”
I did the budget committee first. That was intense but short lived. So, I’ve been on the Select Board, involved with the Water Department Advisory Committee, the library…That’s why I would encourage everybody who’s interested in town politics to raise your hand and get on one of these committees. But I don’t mean politics. We were here for decades before I knew who was a Democrat and who was a Republican, which doesn’t matter at all at the town level. I mean government. You just have to be sincerely willing to learn, because there’s a lot to learn.
I work at the polls, and I hear people come in and say, ‘Well, what does this mean?” But as poll workers, we are not allowed to explain. People have to read and learn about what they’re voting on before they come to the polls. That’s hard.
That’s why I liked Town Meeting. We had the chance to ask for an explanation about how the budget committee reached their number. We could ask the people in the departments about their numbers. And get an explanation right then and there, and all before you voted.
Learning from the people with boots on the ground was helpful in trying to make a good decision, because we were almost always talking about a lot of money. And they’re things that everyone wrestles with it every year. It’s expensive to have roads. It’s expensive to repair them. But if you don’t repair them, it’s even more expensive!!!
I am a fan of asking questions about an issue, thinking about it, and talking with everybody about it. And then, coming up with a plan. Deferring things – well — I’m not a fan of deferring things.
I remember when we first had a capital improvement plan. People were like, “We don’t need one of those. We’ll just spend the money when we get there.”
But if you do that, you’re acting on what’s urgent, and not necessarily on what’s important. There can be a difference between the those two. That’s why it’s important to have a plan. A plan lets you space these things out.
I liked having town meetings because of the people, too. We used to have a neighbor here, Pepe – he was a Gallace – and every year he would stand up and complain that the town was allowed trash on their site trash, so why couldn’t he on his site?
Well, because there are state regulations!
Arthur Creamer was another person whose voice and accent I miss. I think, in part, because my mom had a Maine accent and my aunts and uncles, too. Arthur would always ask about shellfish and want the river to be clean. But he didn’t like a lot regulation about where you could dig and when you could dig. But in Town Meeting you learn that it’s not just about us. It was an opportunity to hear about the government levels above us.
And it’s an opportunity to hear from the people who are doing the whatever, whether it’s the digging, the cutting, or the hunting. I learned that sometimes we can bend that feedback up; and sometimes we can push it but it doesn’t avail us. So, we need to live by state regulations.
At the meeting, we had little cards for voting, and you’d be asked, “All in favor, hold up your card.” And then, “And all against?”
And then they’d take a rough count. If it was close, it went to a private ballot so they could count each ballot.
Sometimes there were questions that had a lot of controversy. After we’d heard from a fair number of people, somebody would raise their hand and move to end discussion because we were all ready to vote.
But Jean and Chuck Begley were not. They always voted not to end the discussion. Every. Single. Time. They believed in making sure that everybody who wanted speak had a chance. And the rest of us? We felt we’d heard all the different points of view, and were, “Let’s cut to the chase. Let’s see.”
But nope. Chuck and Jean voted against it every single time. And it was because they really wanted to hear from everybody. They opened my mind to the possibility that I might want to hear from more people.
But then I would change my mind, and vote with everyone else to close the discussion. Jean and Chuck were more patient than I. I miss them.
In raising our kids, we did a lot with the school and our kids’ friends and the parents of their friends and the PTA. And I miss that.
Now that they’ve gone, I’ve found new ways to connect with people, because I think being in a community is doing something you want to do and attending regularly, whether it’s church or an exercise class like Aging Gracefully or volunteering. It’s showing up. And trying things.
I read about the fly-fishing extravaganza at The Waldo, and the terminal curiosity kicked in. “So, what’s this about?” I’d never gone fly-fishing. So, we went.
NOT TO BE MISSED!!! One was about someone who didn’t catch anything, and it was funny. Another was about fly fishing in the Seychelles and catching a fish as big as this table. Another was about a woman who had a dream to fish in the Amazon and caught a fish so heavy she couldn’t lift it out.
I love laughing. I love seeing different places, because armchair travel works. I love seeing people following their dreams. And I loved seeing the fisherman in the audience loving this, because they could relate.
I like to try things, because I never know. To me, it’s worth going to something that’s maybe a little unusual. Like those movies. That night, I learned something about my fellow townspeople.
I just think you’ve got to show up, and not just for work. You’ve got to show up for play and have fun.
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