Lucy’s Magic Blanket

There are only two days that we “work” in Maine. Arrival day and departure day. Everything else is relaxation and the long slow process of undoing the damage that the rest of the year does to our dispositions. Today, being arrival day, was a work day.

After two days and 14 hours on the road covering 850 miles, we arrived at the Fraternity General store to pick up the sandwiches we had ordered twenty minutes earlier from Pam’s cellphone. Then another four minute drive to Summer Dreams. It was 62 degrees and misting rain. Lucy was excited and agitated at once. Before unloading the car, we reveled in this delightful cabin, walking through every room reacquainting ourselves with its charms. Then we sat down and ate lunch while Lucy paced around the house. 

Once we got the car unloaded, Pam drove to Hannaford’s in Belfast to buy groceries from the meticulous list she had compiled as soon as we got on 295 outside of Portland. I stayed at the cabin unpacking while Lucy roamed and sniffed every square inch of the place, letting out an occasional mournful whine at the fact that Mom had left. When we are in Maine, while Lucy doesn’t mind being left alone, she does not at all like it when one of us leaves. She believes that it is her job to keep all three of us together. Last night at the hotel, we had a two room suite, so Lucy plopped herself down near the interconnecting doorway so she could keep a sharp eye on both of us at the same time!

Pam finally got back from the grocery store, to Lucy’s great relief, but still she was not completely relaxed. She continued her nervous wandering around the house.

Then Pam unpacked Lucy’s designated light teal blanket, the one that we always use to cover sofas where Lucy intends to sleep. She knows this blanket through and through. She knows the look, the feel and the smell. Pam covered the sofa in the front room of the house, the one where Pam and I sit at night, the one that faces the lake. As soon as the blanket was in place, Lucy found it and launched herself up. Finally, she knew her place. Her blanket had arrived and now she was home…

This progression didn’t take long. She is sleeping through her usually etched-in-stone dinner hour.

The next couple of days promise to be chilly and rainy. This is not bad news. There is beautiful weather in the forecast later in the week. Rainy weather at the beginning of a trip gives us time to slow down, time to get acclimated to a different way of living. Our neighbor saw me out on the dock earlier, recognized me from past years and said, “Welcome to Maine.” I think that maybe all of us need a special blanket that tells us where we belong, something that reminds us that we are home and all is well.