Best Friends

     I have known Jay and Karyn Hinson for over 30 years and they have been special to me since day one.  Sitting in my newly acquired family practice office one cold, blustery winter morning in 1983, I received an urgent call from Karyn requesting I make a house call, since Jay was having significant difficulty with depression and would not come in to town to visit a physician. They were not patients of mine at the time, but it sounded serious enough that I acquiesced and found myself trudging through hip level snow into a home Jay had designed and built, known throughout the area as "the tower". We immediately became friends and eventually I wound up living with them when I went through my divorce.
     The tower was octagonally shaped and 3 floors high with sliding glass doors that opened on to balconies on the river side, allowing expansive view of Devil's Head and the Saint Croix River. The third floor which had soft carpet covered stadium seating, opened to a balcony that had a ladder leading to the roof.  The roof had a railing on which one side had a green navigation light and the other a red.  From the river this gave the appearance that the tower was a huge ship coming across the cliff to the river.
     Music was piped in to all the floors with a stereo system that Jay would claim was so exquisite "you can hear the saliva dripping from the french horns!" The second floor had a player piano which accompanied many a hoarsed voiced singer into the wee hours of the morning. Fun, romance (I treated a few rug burned knees from the 3rd floor) and drama, all combined to make this a secure refuge from the work world, but the biggest attraction was Jay, himself.
     Jay was the owner and publisher of not one but two newspapers, the Calais Advertiser and the Machias Daily News.  He is known for his articulately written cutting editorials, his intriguing photography and his love for music, jokes and storytelling. It was he who in fact sealed my fate for the love of boating. He once told me a story that put an image of boating in my mind that still fills me with the romance of boating in down east Maine.  At the time his son Eric was just a small child.  Jay, after putting up with the pressures involved with running two newspapers would come home late, bundle up his sleeping boy, and take him to the boat, "Page One".  After Eric was placed in a warm comfortable and secure spot, jay would start the motors.
 "Ralph. You have never seen anything quite as beautiful as the sparkle of the moonlight off of the splashing sea drops as you throw off the mooring line.  Its serene and liberating at the same time." he reflected.  He would then mix a cocktail, put the boat on automatic pilot, turn Frank Sinatra on the stereo and glide along the smooth moonlit water arriving at Eastport as day was dawning.
     Together we survived divorces, child rearing problems and the vicissitudes of politics in town and at the local hospital.  I have only been able to see Jay and Karyn intermittently over the last years because of my working in Texas, but at age 90 talking to Jay is as easy as when he was in his 60's.  He is still quick with a joke, a friendly smile and hug, and it is as if there is no time between our conversations...we just pick up where we left off.  I have been promising him that I would get the boat home and take him for a cruise, and last week we did .   It was thrilling to have him name and describe the islands with their own unique beaches and stories, and even though we have heard most of the jokes before...he still tells them with a flourish.

                                                                                 
                                           30 year conversation continues                                                    
                          

                                                               
                                                          Marshall, Ruth and Karyn       
                                                                                      

                                                                                       
                                                                Head Harbour Marina

                                                               
                                                             What do you see????
                

Most photographed Lighthouse....Head Harbour

                                                                                    
      Jay, getting you out on Doc's Holiday has allowed me to accomplish one of my goals in coming home....Thank you and Karyn.  Don't worry I will do the night trip without you.....but I have an exquisite sounding stereo system and all the music you want to hear...just in case you want to come along!