Unlike when she left for college, her leaving today is even more heart wrenching.

When she left for college, I had the luxury of thinking it would be temporary. This time, I know that she won’t be moving back because there is nothing here for her. That is not to say that the family she is leaving behind is nothing, but a young person needs to have means to support themselves and they need people their age to socialize with in order to have a full and meaningful life. This is so especially after they have spent four years of their life going to college in order to better themselves and prepare for a career.

I don’t need a survey to tell me why she has left or what it would take for her to move back. The answer to why is, lack of opportunities and the answer to what would it take, is opportunities. We can’t expect, or hope, that young people will be able to return home after receiving an education when there are no jobs for them to come home to.

Our young people have so much to offer, but are being forced to do so elsewhere. Why is that? Where is all the economic development that we have been promised and have been funding for the past several years? Why has Millinocket become the land of NO OPPORTUNITIES for our young people? Why is money being wasted on surveys to ask this question when it could be better spent creating business and opportunities?

I am angry. I am sad. I am already missing my daughter.

Why are all the young people already gone or leaving? Millinocket has nothing to offer them.