Goodbye, Jay.

I

t was entirely by chance that I "met" Jay.

I discovered the Newcastle Publick House restaurant, located in Newcastle, Maine, while on the way back home from visiting Owls Head Lighthouse in November. This 180 year old building was built by a sea captain selling goods on the first floor and using the top floor as a residence. The inside of the building is every bit as beautiful as the outside with oversize windows that let in lots of sun and also featuring the original wide pine board floors.

It was late January and I had a touch of cabin fever. Why not revisit the restaurant and have another delicious lunch? I had hoped that I would be seated at the same bench seat that had a view overlooking the Damariscotta River. Instead, I was escorted to another room and seated at a table that also had great views of the town and river.

Once I was seated I noticed that the wait staff were putting several tables together. A picture of an older gentleman was placed in the middle of the center and two helium balloons were attached to one of the chairs. The balloons had the name “Jay” on them. Members of the group started to arrive.

Once everyone had arrived and had received a drink, one of the party member stood up and said, “Raise your glasses as we make a toast to Jay! Jay was a wonderful friend and coworker. We will miss you very much, Jay!”, followed by a chorus of “Here, here!”

This wasn’t a birthday party. It was a celebration of life. After the toast each person around the table was given an opportunity to recall a favorite story of Jay. 

“When I visited Jay at his house I always noticed how many photographs he had. Having so many photographs was the interesting part. It’s that each photo had to be perfectly spaced apart from each other.” reflected one person.

“Jay loved his wine…

The next person said, “Jay loved his wine! Whenever I came over he’d bring out a new bottle of wine for us to taste. Did you know that he was a well-known wine reviewer for a large New York newspaper? Anyway, I like one of the ones we had so much that I tried to look it up when I got home. The bottle of wine he shared with me cost $150! I decided not to buy it.”. 

Most stories generated at least a smile and a chuckle if not an outright belly laugh.

“I was Jay’s next door neighbor. One day I looked out the window to see him getting ready to go out for a round of golf. He opened the hatchback of his car, placed his clubs in the back and drove off without remembering to close it!”

“Jay was a classy guy. He’d light a candle each night to accompany his dinner.”

…and Trump.”

And still another said, “Jay LOVED Trump. I came over to visit him before the election and he said that he wasn’t letting me in unless I was voting for Trump!”

Unfortunately, the festive mood took a bit of a downturn. The older looking gentleman of the group nearly fell out of his chair after nearly passing out. The ambulance was called. Before the paramedics arrived, I watched the gentleman stand up and try to retrieve his wallet from his back pocket. It looked like he wanted to pay his portion of the bill before he was taken away.

A lady sitting next to him quickly got up and told him that he was the guest of honor and that his bill would be taken care of. When the ambulance arrived the paramedics quickly assessed the gentleman’s condition and placed him in a wheelchair like gurney. He said goodbye and waved to everyone as he left the room.

The cheery mood of Jay’s friends had diminished. It seemed a bit unfair to me that, in the middle of reliving so many fond memories, they were forced to acknowledge their own mortality and the relatively short amount of time each of them might have left together.

I had finished my meal and had to leave. I really hope that their mood picked up and that they were able to continue telling some more great stories of Jay that made them all laugh.

You were a complete stranger to me, Jay, but I felt like I knew a little bit about what type of person you were. You can tell a lot about a person by what your friends say about you when you’re gone.

Goodbye, Jay.