The other day, Charlie and me were out walking Cora around the neighborhood. We passed Frank Ward’s place. He has a bigger than usual garage and works on vintage cars in his spare time. He’d just gotten a delivery of a new, old car, and there’s a couple of guys from away hanging out, coffee mugs in hand. Never seen ‘em before. The owners maybe? Being neighborly, I say, “Hi, there.” And Charlie goes, “Boy, that sure is beauty. Looks like it just needs a little TLC.” Then outta the blue, one of the guys (who frankly seemed a little lit to me) looks at us and goes, “Did you know there are three types …

One of the things I love most about Charlie is he sees what needs to be done and does it. No need to form a committee, and discuss it to death. No ignoring it and hope someone else will step up to the plate. (Okay, to be honest, there were a few incidents where he left a scrap of toilet paper on the roll instead of replacing it. Hey, no one’s perfect.) But all in all, my Charlie’s a doer, and that includes writing poetry about what he’s doing. Here’s the latest. Happy to Have Done My Bit Today I saw a scary sight Drivin’ back to my abode Something dark was sitting right In …

Here’s the last installment, folks. Need to get up to speed? Check out Part One and Part Two. Once I graduated high school and married Charlie, I had a decision to make. I mean, I loved my job at the A&P, but shouldn’t I want more outta life? I’ve always been good with numbers, so I decided to get an Accounting Certificate at the Community College in Bangor. Couldn’t go full time, of course. Charlie and me were just starting out and we couldn’t swing that. So, I continued on at the A&P and took courses at night. It was slow and tough at times, but I stuck it out. About halfway through, I realized …

Check out the Part One of this story here, and next week I’ll share Part Three, the final installment. As I said in Part One, Fred Nichols (owner of the A&P) basically hired me on the spot. Said I’d start off as a bagger. “Between customers, you can get up to speed on the layout of the store so you can point folks in the right direction if they have trouble finding things.” Then he handed me a piece of paper. “Here’s a map. We move things around from time to time, but this is basically it. When can you start?” “I could work after school a couple shifts a week and on weekends until …

I’ve worked at the A&P since I was seventeen. Seems like I started just yesterday and I’ve been there forever. Does that make sense? Spent a summer scooping ice cream down to The Town Scoop when I was fifteen. That was my first job. The Scoop’s deal was hard serve. Appropriately named. It’s one thing to eat ice cream, it’s a whole other thing to wear it. Big sticky patches of it on your tee shirt, your shorts, your face, the whole shift. No thank you! The next summer, I worked as a chambermaid and waitress over to Henderson’s Lodge and Cabins on Moose Megantic Lake. We’d have people from away who’d come stay for …