Story by Joy Mixon
My father died in April of 1997 after a 10 year battle with Cancer. In September, of that year, my husband and I made our annual trek from Massachusetts to York, Maine for our wedding anniversary vacation. York, Maine is where I spent my summer vacations as a child with my family, into my teenage years. It is a very special place for us with so many wonderful memories and one of the places where I said goodbye to my Dad after his passing.
Well, my husband and I invited my mother to join us for a couple days knowing that this was a very special place for her as well. We all had a fun day of exploring around the rocks, looking for treasures from the sea; watching the tide ebb and flow; we re-visited some of the places we used to go to when I was a little girl and of course, we dined at a lovely restaurant in Perkins Cove, overlooking the ocean.
We returned back to the cottage after supper and to our delight the Nubble Lighthouse, was all aglow with white lights! And the Christmas tree inside the light-keepers house was aglow as well. This was an unusual occurrence, as the Christmas lights don’t usually get put on until after Thanksgiving for the Christmas holidays. I began thinking that this is a true sign of my Dad’s presence with us. Here we were all together, enjoying a place which means so much to us and meant so very much to my Dad, and we were all being blessed with this beautiful gift of a Christmas light display in September!
I was just beaming with happiness at these warm thoughts! These lights were on again the following night after my Mom’s departure back to Massachusetts.
The next day, I walked over to the Visitor’s Station, and questioned this unusual occurrence with the Hostess. She was unaware that the lights had been going on for those two nights and very sternly said to me that they shouldn’t be on; that they don’t usually go on until after Thanksgiving.
I told her that my husband and I had been going to Nubble Light, York, Maine, for the past 5 years in September, and we’ve never seen the lights displayed this early and that we certainly were enjoying this beautiful display. She insisted this was a mistake.
That very night, the lights went on as usual. My husband and I went out to dinner and when we returned, we noticed that the lights which had been gracing the lighthouse had been turned off!
Let this be a lesson to all of us, not to question the precious gifts from God! I certainly learned my lesson!
