Today marks the last full day at the cabin on the cove. Sadly, it also marks the end of our visits to this place. Joan and Kathryn (owners of the cabin) have made the well-deserved decision to retire from active work at the Alcyon Center. They will be moving from the main house on the property and into the cabin. We knew coming into this trip that it would be our last, and we certainly enjoyed every minute of these last two weeks.
I feared writing this post more than any I have done since we started this blog. I did not look forward to this day, wondering how I’d feel. This little slice of heaven, as well as Joan and Kathryn, have been a part of my life for 15 years. It seemed impossible to think about visiting Maine without being here. Could I ever even come back to Mount Desert Island?
What I feel more than else, sitting here at the kitchen table with the windows open and a cool breeze blowing, is gratitude. Not sadness or longing or melancholy. Gratitude, with a huge helping of fulfillment.
Through changes in my life, the lives of my kids, the lives of my parents, the world around me, the cabin and the cove have remained a constant.
Michael and Julia learned to kayak in the waters of Seal Cove. Me too, come to think of it. My parents’ first and only time kayaking was here as well. So was Karen’s! And all of them fell in love with it. I can remember hours spent with Michael and Julia in the cove at low tide, picking up crabs and periwinkles and mussels. Crab pinches really can hurt, even from the little guys!
I have incredibly fond memories of my father and kids getting up early and playing solitaire on the kitchen table, each of them trying their best to win. No one did. That was in June of 2015, just 6 months before my dad’s cancer diagnosis. He LOVED being here with us in the cabin although, truth be told, he hated that there is no television and only one bathroom. But he sucked it up and had a wonderful experience.
When Karen and I met, she heard story after story from both me and my kids about the cabin. We talked about it like it was the greatest place on Earth. She and I were supposed to visit for the first time in 2020, but COVID saw to the cancellation of those plans. When we planned a trip in 2021, I was so nervous about bringing her. Would she like it? Did we build up an impossible image in her head?
It took only one night here for her to fall in love, as I had so many years before. We have been so fortunate to have been able to visit together 4 times – the last 2 visits being 2 weeks each. We have created a whole new batch of memories together, sharing this amazing experience.
We were able to say our goodbyes (for now) to Joan and Kathryn, and tonight we will say goodbye to the cove. I say for now because I know our travels will bring us to the island again in the future. And when they do, we will pay a visit to our dear friends and this place. This is not the end of our story, just the end of a chapter. The chapter called, “The cabin on the cove”. I for one will miss this chapter dearly, but I feel blessed to have been able to live it. And, like all great stories, I look forward to the chapters yet to come.
BTW, if you have time, please check out the Alcyon Center website. There may just be something of interest to you or someone you care about. It has been a running joke between me and Kathryn and Joan that I don’t understand what they do. That’s true! LOL. But I know what they do has meant so much to so many people. If you ever choose to visit, tell them Rick and Karen say hello.
I have pulled various pictures from my visits here over the years prior to this one. Unfortunately I have no pictures from my first visit in 2009. That year, I had my digital camera (remember those?) in a Ziplock bag while I was kayaking. The camera and bag ended up falling into the surf while unloading on Moose Island. The bag was not quite as watertight as I had hoped and salt water penetrated, completely frying my camera and the memory card. Those pictures live now only in my heart.
These are in no particular order, nor are they captioned.
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