Welcome to another Grateful Heart Monday, where gratitude always gets expressed to kick the week off, which for today is for something I’ve already written about ever so slightly in my last few articles but wanted to take the time to express more deeply, and that’s the recent summer trip I took to see my closest friend, Cedric.
It’s amazing to think that Cedric and I started our journey in this life together when I was only 25 years old, and he was 34. The amazing memories we now have over two and a half decades are endless and if there’s one thing we always seem to enjoy doing together it’s taking trips somewhere. This summer it was to York, Maine, where we spent four days enjoying a section of the country neither of us had ever spent any time there.
In addition to the enjoyment of swimming in the chilly waters there and hanging out on the oceanfront top-floor balcony listening to music, especially at dark, the highlights I’m most grateful for are for the entire day we got to play six games of mini-golf (Schooner Mini Golf, Raptor Falls Mini Golf, Wells Beach Mini Golf, and Wonder Mountain Mini Golf), the drives we took along the scenic Route 1 from Saco, Maine down to Portsmouth, NH, the restaurants we dined at (Three Sisters in Biddeford, Maine, Luigi’s West End Pizzeria in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, So Zap in Ogunquit, Maine, and The Kitchen in Portsmouth, New Hampshire), the daily Starbucks hangouts that were filled with lots of laughter, especially the one in downtown Portsmouth where a total stranger named Tim told us his entire life story in an hour, watching the entire new season of The Umbrella Academy on Netflix together late at night, having the best cookies ever from Crumbl Cookies in Newington, Rhode Island, visiting Nubble Lighthouse in York, Maine, which I think might just be the prettiest lighthouse I’ve ever seen, and taking a long walk into downtown York after the sun set for the evening.
Beyond our four-day visit to Maine, I wanted to also mention a few other things I was grateful for on this weeklong vacation. The first is for reconnecting with my dear friend Sean Slater who picked me up from the Providence airport and took me to dinner in North Kingstown to Wickford on the Water where we had the best fish tacos next to an inlet and then enjoyed some Starbucks afterwards in downtown Providence. The second is for reconnecting with my dear friend Debbie Coon who met us in Quincy, Massachusetts for an early dinner at Port 305 where we sat by the water and enjoyed coffee afterwards in Braintree at another Starbucks (Yes, I know, I have an addiction to Starbucks! LOL!). And lastly, for visiting Nobska Lighthouse on my final day of the trip where they were giving away free homemade ice cream (Yum!), for pizza afterwards at Marc Anthony’s in Onset with my recovery friend Nick L., and for him coordinating for me to do a 12 Step recovery lead at his home group, Buzzards Bay Monday night, to end the evening.
So yes, I have much to be grateful for on this Grateful Heart Monday’s recap of my recent trip back east and want to end by thanking Cedric for making it all possible and leaving me with plenty of lasting memories from another vacation in our decades long friendship.
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
