I picked my father up at about 11:45 today. We drove over to Lobster Cove Restaurant on Long Sands Beach. When we walked in it was apparent that he was a familiar face to the staff. When the first waitress said hi to him he asked her how she knew him. She said he came in often. He had no clue. We went upstairs where there are spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean through very large windows. The light was crisp and clear and the ocean was deep hues of blue. We both ordered Haddock sandwiches and he started talking about a woman he knew when he was 18. She lived one summer near Chases Garage in York Beach and she worked at Garfields Store. He said he would like to find her. I asked her name and he couldn't remember.
He said her father was a police officer from Massachusetts and that as far as he knew she spent one summer in York Beach. As the haddock sandwiches, french fries and cole slaw disappeared from our plates he reminisced about the people he had worked for when he was young. He pointed out the window and to the rocks that were placed between the beach and the road as a buffer and said he had driven the dump truck that carried most of those rocks. He said the company that contracted the job was from Augusta and it took about a year. Perhaps around 1949. He also talked about being in Korea and the harrowing boat trip accoss the Pacific and how the boat cracked in half and had to be repaired in transit. He said there was lots of dancing on the ship, no women. But he added, "there were some great dancers."
He asked me if we could have more to eat. I assumed he was talking about desert. I asked him how his sugar level was and he told me 175. He said he wasn't sure though, inferring he may be wrong and hoping I would think it may be lower. We asked the waitress if she had anything sugar free and she said no and added that she was sorry. We left and drove out the Fox's Restuaruant at the Nubble Lighthouse as they have an ice cream window. There was a large sign in the window that said opening May 1.
No luck there so we perused back to Long Sands and stopped at the Long Sands General Store where they had sugar free coffee ice cream. He got a sugar cone with a bit of ice cream. He didn't let the server put much in the cone and she charged us only $1. The price I paid for mine was $2.50. We went out and sat in the sun heated warm truck and I let time stand still for a moment. Sitting there with my dad, just like I was a kid again, eating ice cream with nothing much to do. Only this time I was making the rules and he never contested.
He then asked if we could drop in on some friends and I had to tell him I needed very much to get back to work. I had been gone two hours and felt very anxious. I drove him back to Sentry Hill and walked him to the door. He gave me two hugs and thanked me several times. I thanked him for going with me and left him in the doorway, still open and closing.
Yesterday was my middle child and son's 16 birthday. I told my father but he didn't really acknowledge it. Only a few years ago he would greet us on birthday's and Christmas with $100 dollar bills. Those days are past. The days of him driving into our yard, pushing the front door open without knocking and saying, "hello, anyone here?"
He said her father was a police officer from Massachusetts and that as far as he knew she spent one summer in York Beach. As the haddock sandwiches, french fries and cole slaw disappeared from our plates he reminisced about the people he had worked for when he was young. He pointed out the window and to the rocks that were placed between the beach and the road as a buffer and said he had driven the dump truck that carried most of those rocks. He said the company that contracted the job was from Augusta and it took about a year. Perhaps around 1949. He also talked about being in Korea and the harrowing boat trip accoss the Pacific and how the boat cracked in half and had to be repaired in transit. He said there was lots of dancing on the ship, no women. But he added, "there were some great dancers."
He asked me if we could have more to eat. I assumed he was talking about desert. I asked him how his sugar level was and he told me 175. He said he wasn't sure though, inferring he may be wrong and hoping I would think it may be lower. We asked the waitress if she had anything sugar free and she said no and added that she was sorry. We left and drove out the Fox's Restuaruant at the Nubble Lighthouse as they have an ice cream window. There was a large sign in the window that said opening May 1.
No luck there so we perused back to Long Sands and stopped at the Long Sands General Store where they had sugar free coffee ice cream. He got a sugar cone with a bit of ice cream. He didn't let the server put much in the cone and she charged us only $1. The price I paid for mine was $2.50. We went out and sat in the sun heated warm truck and I let time stand still for a moment. Sitting there with my dad, just like I was a kid again, eating ice cream with nothing much to do. Only this time I was making the rules and he never contested.
He then asked if we could drop in on some friends and I had to tell him I needed very much to get back to work. I had been gone two hours and felt very anxious. I drove him back to Sentry Hill and walked him to the door. He gave me two hugs and thanked me several times. I thanked him for going with me and left him in the doorway, still open and closing.
Yesterday was my middle child and son's 16 birthday. I told my father but he didn't really acknowledge it. Only a few years ago he would greet us on birthday's and Christmas with $100 dollar bills. Those days are past. The days of him driving into our yard, pushing the front door open without knocking and saying, "hello, anyone here?"
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