Dummer’s Beach and My Wife

My wife grew up spending every summer of her life at a campground called Dummer’s Beach on Webb Lake in Weld, Maine. Every single summer for the first 49 years of her life. It was there that I got introduced to Maine 38 years ago. Her Mom and Dad had a permanent site on the campground and a big RV camper parked on it just steps from the lake. But, ten years ago Russ and Vi finally sold the camper and gave up the site. Pam and I had discovered Mid-Coast Maine by then so we replaced Dummer’s Beach campground with beautiful lake houses only a 25 minute drive from the ocean. Pam’s parents have made a few trips up to Dummer’s since giving up their site to visit with life long friends, but the brutal drive up 95 has gotten to be too much for them. This year they really wanted to go up and stay in one of the cabins…one last time…but Pam was worried sick about the two of them making a 15 hour, two day drive. Neither one of them are as steady on their feet as they used to be. Pam just couldn’t find peace in her heart about it so…

This morning, Pam left to go over to their house at 6:18 am, her car packed with all of their things, to pick them up and drive them up for the week. She will serve as their official chaperone, driver and trip boss. The three of them will spend the week in a small cabin close to the beach with Pam sleeping on a futon.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what it means to honor thy father and mother.

I know my wife. It has been ten years since she has made that left turn off of 142 onto the long dirt road that leads to the most iconic image of her life…

When this sight peeks through the pines, my wife will cry. She will not feel silly or make any apologies…but she will weep. This place is in her heart, bones and marrow. She grew up here and it has that profound power of place that has gripped the imagination of human beings since the dawn of time. When we would go up every year with the kids, eventually it began to have the same impact on us. My children fell for the place at a very young age and both of them maintain a longing for Maine that survives to this day. But none of us had it as bad as Pam. Often, I would see her off by herself taking it all in…

And now, she will visit for the first time in ten years. It will be different. It will probably seem smaller. She has stayed on so many beautiful lakes in Maine now, back then this one was all she knew. This time she will get to see it with fresh eyes and from new vantage points. She will go out with her Dad on kayaks, something she never did back in the day…and she brought her paddle board. The thought of her out a couple of miles in the middle of this majestic lake with Tumbledown Mountain looming to the west almost brings tears to my eyes. But this week won’t be a vacation for Pam. She is there to see to it that her parents have a wonderful and safe vacation. It will be work, and when she gets home she will need a vacation.

So, if you are so inclined, say a prayer or two for them this week. Pray for traveling mercies, for cooperative weather, good health and patience all around. While you’re at it, put in a word for me, this being only the third time in 37 years of marriage that I will be without her for an entire week. 



Our last family picture on the morning we left Dummer’s for the last time.