I was born in Maine. It’s my home, yet I longed to leave.

Beautiful sunset walks on the beach in the summer come at a price; long, icy cold winters that seem never to give birth to spring.

But when I had my own family, this was the place I wanted to raise my children. I began to cherish the quiet, slower pace of life, a place where everyone knows everyone. I wanted my children to experience the closeness, ingenuity and uniqueness of Mainers.

We have always been resilient people with a “live and let live” mentality. I feel like in recent years we have lost some of that, our neighborliness, our individuality, our “Maineness.”

Rep. Laurel Libby is someone who believes in the Maine I love. She fights for everyday Mainers, for families, for individual liberty.

She wants people like me to stay in Maine.

Elizabeth Martin, Minot