Another friend is dying ...

I chose to move to Lubec after Frank died because of all the friends I have here. Rachel has been the best friend among many friends. I soon learned that Rachel is a dear friend to all. Her heart is as big and wide as her open door. Friends are in and out of her house, three doors up from me, constantly.

Circles of friends overlap here. In mid-June, Gene moved back to Lubec, where he had been living "off the grid" for more than five years. He spent most of his life in Delaware, working in carpentry. He discovered Lubec, as we all come to do, and stayed. Now 66, Gene is a kind soul who found in Lubec a place full of gentleness.

Two years ago Gene got stomach cancer. He returned to Delaware for treatments, until doctors said they couldn't do anything else. So he had hospice care ... until he decided he wanted to be back in the woods again.

First he got a campsite in Pennsylvania's Poconos. Hospice nurses looked in on him everyday for three weeks. Then he realized he really wanted to be home in Lubec -- where he has a small boat and a recreational license to fish for lobsters. He also has a small collie who goes everywhere with him. Back here, Gene has been on the water nearly daily, when he isn't visiting with friends around town. He brings them the lobsters he catches and the clams he digs.

I saw him a week ago, and he told me he's been sick lately. Rachel saw him more recently, and said that it's time for Gene to come live with her. This morning, Gene called her from his place in the woods of North Lubec. It really is time for Gene to move into Rachel's downstairs, and be nurtured and fed and loved by his friends. I think he realizes that.

Dashed by a dream

Frank doesn't show up in my dreams much at all. But when he does, it's a powerful dream. I'm not one who talks about dreams at all, but this one just struck at my heart. It went like this: I learned that Frank was "out there," that there was a chance that I could see him in three years. The dream vaguely had him in a prison, and that I came across an address for which he could receive my letters. That gave me hope that I could communicate, and he would be returning in three years.

Then I woke up. It was 3:41am. Frank's dead, I realized. He's not coming back. It was all a dream.

Benefit for a cancer patient

Few weeks ago, I saw a flyer in town: Benefit supper and auction for so-and-so, Sunday, Aug. 12, all afternoon. I marked it on my calendar.

Even better, I followed through and went. The parking lot was packed. Once inside, food was plentiful and people were left standing as the auction started. The older man with Stage 4 cancer, accompanied by his wife, was seated up close to the auction action.

I've seen these local auctions where a home-baked pie may bring $5, and the bathroom faucet donated by the  local hardware shop may bring $8. Sometimes they can't give this stuff away. But this one seemed different. A blueberry pie went for $50. Some home-smoked salmon went for $40. And when the $10 gift card for Uncle Kippy's Restaurant came up, I won it for $20.

This wasn't a crowd with money. These people were the man's own extended family of cousins and everyone else who grew up alongside the family. This was a crowd filled with neighbors and friends, and lots of love.

The least I could do today was go and support the man and his family. It's just so easy to remember how wonderful and giving everyone else had been for Frank and me, back in January 2011 when our friends organized a benefit supper and auction for us. It was amazing to experience all that love and generosity back in 2011. It was amazing to see something like that all over again today, for another family in need.

The annual town meeting

Not a single thing happens that I don't relate to Frank.Take last night, for example. Lubec held its annual town meeting. I went by myself, as I'm having to do for all things these days. In the past, I've always gone to to town meetings (Machias, and Franklin before that) with Frank.

Frank never missed a town meeting, as long as I knew him, until his illness kept him from Machias' town meeting in 2011. He loved  being part of a good public discussion. He always found a point, or two or three, to make. He took his town meeting responsibilities very seriously. The critical thinker in him emerged, and he made points that others hadn't yet considered.

Could not help myself thinking of Frank last evening in town-meeting mode.