The Shelter

"You've got to try the Coveside," were the words we kept hearing. "Their chowder is delicious."  That's all we needed to hear.  We're always game for a great bowl of seafood chowder--what could be better?

It only took a day for an opportunity to present itself to try out the new restaurant--rain in Maine!  So mid-afternoon we hopped in the car and set out to drive off our peninsula and down the next peninsula looking for this hidden treasure.  We wound along the coastline and over a wonderful little working draw bridge and then we started trying to spot the Coveside.  When we didn't immediately find it, we asked a couple of Mainers where it was and I'm sure they got a huge chuckle when they said, "oh, just follow this road around and you'll eventually come to it," knowing full well we would never find it with those instructions.


Once we found ourselves back where we started, we retraced our steps and there it was!--a rustic, weathered eatery built on pylons at the edge of the harbor.  The setting couldn't have been better.  And how about the fact that we had the place to ourselves except for a group of a dozen people who were seated at the table next to us.  The hostess sat us right in front of the window facing the water--I was giddy with delight! 

After placing our order--a steaming bowl of clam chowder of course--we settled in to see what was happening in the harbor.  Actually not too much was going on.  It was pouring down rain.  Most sailboats and lobster boats were safely moored, rocking in the tide.  There was one funny sight though--a young man fully dressed in a parka and shorts paddled by on his paddleboard.  (I guess he didn't have the sense to come in out of the rain.)

While Jim and I wondered how we had never come to this place before now, we began to piece together what was happening at the table next to us.  The people had come in to the restaurant for lunch on their boat and were now pinned down by the torrential rain.  The waitresses were trying to find Doppler reports on their computers to help the boaters determine their next step--stay or go? 

Finally the sailors went out to check that their boat was securely tied down and it seemed that the consensus was that a rousing card game would do the trick until the storm passed.  They were safe.  Why risk it?

Little did Jim and I know that while we watched those boaters navigate the decisions about what to about the storm of that August afternoon, we would soon be in the midst of a storm of our own--a very serious infection that would land me in a Maine hospital CCU.  We were far away from home and anyone we knew.  We were frightened.  Could we trust our new care givers and their advice?  We had very poor cell phone service and we felt alone.  The only comfort we could find was in what the Psalmist says, "Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."  Thank you, God, for your protection.