At 26, Henry Cauffman came to Waldoboro ten months ago, looking to turn a new chapter in his life. He’d grown up in Whittier, CA, gone to UC San Diego, graduated with a major in political science and a minor in history and realized he didn’t want to have anything to do with those majors. He wanted to see and explore the world instead. He worked for American Conservation Experience in Arizona and Colorado making rock walls, designing trails and maintaining forests. There, he fell in love for the first time. The two found their way to the Mojave Desert in Death Valley and worked on a date farm in 110-degree heat. They then worked on a farm with WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), in Hawaii. Back on the mainland, though, they broke up. Henry decided to keep going east. In Ohio, he worked on a chestnut farm. Outside of Buffalo, he tended the farm’s cattle and pigs, and while there, he read “We Took to the Woods.” Something in the descriptions of Maine’s forests awakened something in Henry. When he spotted a summer job opening building trails in Camden with the Maine Conservation Corps, he didn’t hesitate even though it was far cry from Rangley. By the end of the summer when he was wondering what to do next, Henry bumped into an old acquaintance, Alexa Stark. She was transforming the old Stahl Tavern into the current Waldoboro Inn and offered him a room to let while all the renovation was going on. Henry said yes.
I know I talk about these romantic sojourns like the date farm in Death Valley or tending the pigs in upstate New York. But in a lot of ways, I think I was just floating through life, doing random work for not a lot of money. When I came here, I’m like, “Alright. I need to become an adult, be independent.”
However, I didn’t have a clear idea of what that looked like. I just took whatever jobs I could find here. Like working for a painting company that didn’t end up treating me very well. And working these really hard jobs that I wasn’t particularly good at.
But I had to make money. Finally, I was on one job where we were being trained but expected to perform perfectly. Something we couldn’t do. It got to be too much with all the pressure and criticism, and I left.
But without a plan for making money, I started to wonder, “What am I doing anyway in this small town in Maine?” I felt like a failure. However, Richard Parker, my landlord, was like, “No. It just wasn’t right for you. You should do what you love.”
Still, it’s been really, really hard to try things and to fail, repeatedly. That’s why I figured I’d go home when my stage-managing job in Belfast came to an end. Winter was coming anyway. And winter is challenging for me. It’s dark and I don’t want to go outside. And I was lonely. I like people, and people seem to like me, but I’d made only one close friend here. I missed the people who are home for me.
I started remembering the questions Alexa would ask: “What do you want your day to look like? What do you want to wake up and do? Do you want to make breakfast for yourself? Or have a pet that you take for a walk? Or talk to a friend this time of day?” She made me think about what I wanted day to day.
I know how I live my life is not conventionally successful. I don’t make much money. I don’t have a stable, successful career. On the other hand, I think Richard recognizes – and it means a lot to me – that there’s value in having adventures and a variety of experiences. It’s a way to grow.
My biggest adventure was falling in love. It changed me. Just opening my heart was scary and life-changing; letting someone get to know you. I haven’t fallen in love like that since. I think I’ve been kind of heartbroken.
My travels have changed me in other ways, too. In Ohio, I really learned about caring for kids. I wouldn’t have known that otherwise. At the farm in New York, I butchered animals. I came to appreciate how food is made. And death. I killed animals. I’d never done that before. Just meeting different people has changed me.
I think some people’s paths are more winding than others, and so, maybe you reach a dead-end and you have to retrace your steps a bit. Like I do.
In my early twenties, I approached life taking things moment to moment. My happiness was in accepting everything that came my way. But Alexa asked, “If you just live moment to moment, what does it mean if you don’t have something that you’re striving towards?”
I haven’t been able to answer that, except that I think my most natural ability is to connect with people. In college, I was putting together all sorts of stuff with people …beach clean-ups, assisting people with animals, working at hospitals putting together meals for people. I really loved creating community there. I loved bringing people together. I hope I can find ways of doing that, because that’s what I really love, bringing people together, like the improv group here I just started.
Even so, I’m struggling to find my niche in the world and to make a stable income. I know it’s what my parents want. It’s what I want. So, I’m trying a lot of different things. Richard gives me odd jobs like weeding the garden, painting, and grading the driveway. My best friend told me, if I needed, I could stay with him. Others offered me work to help improve my skills. I got a part in a play at the Waldo. I’m starting to think maybe people really want me here.
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