Most of the detail pertaining to Bea’s passing have been tended to so Dad and I were able to have a day with no responsibilities. He wanted to go shopping for a new spring jacket…the optimist!! We started at Sears and the first one he tried on, he got. It was such a great deal…on sale for $15.00 and then another 30% off!!! I splurged and bought it for him 🙂 After, Sears, we went to the Christmas Tree Shop where I bought a couple of photo boxes as I am trying to organize the pictures that I have found tucked throughout the house.

It was lunch time, so we rode to Randolph to a little restaurant Brownies. When I was so young, and Dad and Bea were first married; we would go out to eat at Brownies on the weekends that I was visiting with them. They had great fried clams and that is what I was in the mood for. I allow myself a fried clam splurge each time that I come home and Saturday was going to be the day. Well, Brownies had gone out of business. We ended up at Mike’s Restaurant in Farmingdale, across from J & S Convenience store. Dad and I both had the fried clam basket. It was delicious!

After lunch, we drove to Gardiner to visit with my Uncle Bucky, dad’s brother-in-law and his partner, Mary. We returned home around 2:00. I went through Bea’s clothes for dad and got them ready to donate. While I was vacuuming, our friend, Barbara Beaudoin stopped by to express her sympathies. She brought a lovely lemon cake that she had made.

Saturday night, I had a long overdue visit with my dear friend, Ann Hichborn Byron. We chatted for 3 hours and probably could have talked another 2 but I had to leave. Thanks, Ann, for the great talk. You are a special, dear person and I cherish our friendship.

Sunday, dad’s hair stylist, Dawn Dunn came to the house and gave him a haircut. Sunday afternoon, we went to visit my cousin Rob and his wife, Teresa in South Gardiner. Rob’s mother, Margaret, was dad’s sister. Rob had old family photos that he needed help in identifying who they were. We stayed there for over 2 hours. My dad’s mother passed away when he was 16 and I had never seen a picture of her. Rob had one of dad’s parents together….such a gift to be able to see my family roots. I learn so much about the family that I never really knew. Kind of makes me want to hop on “ancestry.com” now!!!

I have so enjoyed spending this one-on-one time with dad. For the first time in a long, long time, I feel relaxed in this house and can truly enjoy the laugher and special time with my dad. I don’t mean any disrespect toward my stepmother by saying this, but I was always afraid that I would do or say something wrong around her that would make her mad at me. She rarely spoke to me when I came to visit.

I am going to visit my brother in WI February 28 until March 6. I will return to Maine and spend my time between Augusta and Portland. Dad has a stress test on March 11, which I am going to be here for but not overly concerned with. At the exam that Dad had last Friday, the cardiologist said that he didn’t see anything which caused him concern. The stress test is just to confirm this.

I believe that I will look into returning to the DR around the week of March 21. As much as I will miss dad once I leave, I am not worried about him. He is so very social and has already been in contact with neighborhood friends. One friend, Roy, who recently lost his wife, has asked dad to join him at the Cohen Center in Hallowell. It is a lovely senior center that serves lunches daily and has various activities. David, Mike, Kelsie and I all joke that we will have to put some kind of tracking device on dad’s car to keep track of him!!!

I realize that this time with dad has been a gift and I will always cherish the memories that we have made!