Another Monday, another storm. It has practically become a tradition these last few weeks. And last weeks storm didn’t seem like that big a deal, a lot of rain, some wind. Hey, at least it wasn’t snow.

By mid day it was starting to look a little more significant. From my office on Camden Harbor, the sea looked angry, and I became aware that with high tide approaching, my car parked behind the office, right at the docks, might be vulnerable. Aware that roads were already getting closed off by falling trees, I decided to cancel the rest of the afternoon and head back up the coast toward home.

The power was already out in Lincolnville, and school had been dismissed at 11:30. My buddy, the new school bus driver, reported a lot of backing up but he got his young charges home safely.

With the 2:30 high tide approaching, I of course had to stop at the beach to see the show, joining a good amount of my neighbors. The sea wall was being battered, and was starting to spill over into the parking lot, but, thankfully, there wasn’t the kind of beach flood we have seen in past storms.

A neighbor, also braving the sea spray, related to me a similar storm, back in the 1970s, when his 8 year old self and a friend with equally more guts than common sense got the bright idea to set out in a dinghy from Lincolnville Beach, and barely escaped with their lives. Boys.

I spent the rest of the afternoon sheltered from wind and rain in the half-finished greenhouse, reading a book, listening to the alarming crash of trees in the woods. Venerable old pines, know that there was someone to hear you fall.

Thank for goodness wood stoves. I fed the family a big pot of ramen noodles, which seemed to satisfy the teenagers. Ma absconded to her significant other’s, who managed to maintain power at the Beach, though he lost quite a few roof shingles.

We were fortunate in getting power returned Tuesday morning, as the extent of the damage this storm had wrought became apparent. The warmth and volume of rain had hit the snow covered mountains hard, and our rivers began to rise over their banks.

As always, in a time of crisis, Mainers looked out for each other. Warming centers were opened as the temperatures plummeted, people took in friends and neighbors. My father-in-law, living in a town on the banks of the Kennebec, told me about braving a flooded road armed with a diesel truck and a chainsaw to bring a propane heater to a woman in her 90’s, whose house was now on an island. Others brought her food and checked in on her. I assume, like so many of us, she was reluctant to leave her home.

So all in all, one heck of a storm. They do seem a bit more frequent these days. But whatever the future brings, we need to remember to stick together, and look out for each other. Our differences count for little when the power is out and the cold is encroaching. And as the hero of my early childhood Fred Rogers once said, look for the helpers.

It is the final week of 2023. As has become my tradition, I closed up shop for the week, and look forward to having nothing in particular planned. A new year and the beginning of my 50th year on this planet.

It has been a challenging year; there remains so much division among my fellow citizens, with all out hatred at times being directed at those who disagree with us. The people of Ukraine remain under daily attack, while small villages across Russia bury their young men who died for a war they do not understand. People in Israel mourn their loved ones, while holding out hope for the return of the missing. The people of Gaza are suffering unimaginably, their homes devastated and undergoing the worst loss of civilian life in this century. I worry that the seeds of future conflict are being sown.

There is much suffering in the world beyond this little place on the coast.

But I sit to write this on the morning of Christmas Eve, under the glow of my little Christmas tree. The Solstice, the turning of the cosmic tide, the return of light. We must have hope, faith that things can be better, that we can be better. I challenge you to smile more, to reach out to someone who you disagree with- not to have another argument, but just to check in. “How you been, bud.” Our similarities will always outweigh our differences. And there are always important things to talk about beyond politics.

Okay Lincolnville, Happy New Year. It has been a blast writing this column over the last year and thank you to Lynda Clancy at the Penbay Pilot for giving me the chance to attempt to fill my mom’s giant shoes. Reach out to me at ceobrien246@gmail.com. I look forward to another year of writing my weekly news and musings from our little town.

Monday, December 25

Christmas Day, Town Office Closed

Tuesday, December 26

Select Board, 5 p.m. Town Office

Wednesday, December 27

Library open 2-5 p.m. 

Planning Board, 7 p.m. Town Office

Friday, December 29

AA Meeting 12 p.m., Community Building, 18 Searsmont Road

Library open 9-12, 208 Main Street

Saturday, December 30

Library open 9-12, 208 Main Street

Sunday, December 31

No worship services at the United Christian Church

Bayshore Baptist Church, 9:30 a.m. Sunday School, 11:00 a.m. worship, 6 p.m. Christmas Eve Service, 2648 Atlantic Highway