Fourth of July at Home in Maine

 

The Fourth of July quilt is now at home with my friend Bob, who lives near the seacoast in Maine.

We "met" over 20 years ago when I was at a seminar for our ERP software. I had recently installed an upgrade that had gone badly, and had needed some help. At the seminar I complained that the bug I had found had NOT been fixed online and I didn't want anybody else to encounter the same problems I had had. During a break, two gentlemen approached me. Their company used the same software and were planning an upgrade in a few days. Would I be willing to talk to their IT guy and tell him what to do?

Of course I would.

The next day I spent an hour on the phone with Bob, and told him what to do.

It worked, and the next week he called to thank me. It turned out we each had skills the other lacked.  This began a long relationship. If I was stumped I'd call Bob and he'd help me out. When he had questions he'd give me a call. Bob was funny and I could call him if I needed to vent, and he'd listen. Whenever there was an upgrade, we'd go through the details together and report back with our findings. 

I think it was ten years before I met him in person. Every single year on my birthday, I would get a call from Bob, and he would sing to me. Every single year on his birthday I did the same. He always made me laugh.

Bob moved from that job to another, and then another. We still kept in touch. During the pandemic, he knew I was alone and working from home. He'd call or we'd chat or FaceTime. On those lonely holidays, I'd get a text and he'd ask if I was OK.

Last spring, when I was working on the Fourth of July quilt, he texted me and asked how I was. We went back and forth, and then I sent him a picture of the lighthouse panel I had bought and decided to use on the back of the quilt.

"Which lighthouse is that?" he asked. I replied that it was probably a generic lighthouse, since it didn't look like any lighthouse in this area. We New Englanders tend to know our regional lighthouses.

We signed off, and I looked over at the quilt and the lighthouse panel.

New England.

Seacoast.

Lighthouse.

Friend.

Right away I knew I would give the quilt to Bob. I thought he might be embarrassed, so I thought some more. Then I worked out how long we had been buddies. It was 1997 or 1998. That's well over 20 years.

In all that time Bob has never forgotten my birthday. He has always made me laugh and smile. That was enough. When the quilt was done, I put it in the mail and sent it to Bob in Maine.

It arrived on Thursday.

"This is really cool," he texted, "but I expect to see a bill."

No freaking way, I texted back.

"You really are a beautiful person... Thank you, thank you, thank you."

We went back and forth. "20 years," I said, "Actually I think it's closer to 26" he said. "I should ask you how to wash it."

I told him in was in the document I sent. "Read it. There will be a quiz later."

Later I got another text, "I will get you a nice grandma rated picture of me and my new quilt. I love it, it is gorgeous. I would like to use it on my bed as a nice top cover, but it is so nice I am afraid to use it... I like the book you sent with the story. That is really cool. Did you know that one of the things my wife and I would like to do when we retire is to go see all the lighthouses in the East Coast?"

On Friday I got another text. "I want you to know I showed your quilt to several people and every single one of them thought it was beautiful and well made.

"Thank you again."

Update: I added the photo Bob sent me wrapped in his quilt.