Teddy was born to a single mother. She would not be the one to raise him although she would keep him for awhile, eventually his mother's sister and her husband would adopt Teddy. Teddy grew up in the midcoast area of Maine. His adopted father, Frank worked at the local radio station as the manager. It's strange thinking about it because my father's band did a pre-recorded show that was played on Saturday morning at that radio station, my Dad was friends with Teddy's father, yet I never met Teddy. I wouldn't meet him until years later when my boyfriend, Fred and I would go to visit Teddy and his wife, Joanne and stay at their house for a weekend.
Through the years we would go to visit Teddy and Joanne, but I never really got to know Teddy until much later when he came to live with us. He and Joanne were in the process of getting divorced, he needed a friend, he showed up at our house one day and ended up moving in with us.
At the very time he came to stay I had just found out I was pregnant with my first child. The same day I told my husband Fred that we were going to have a baby, Teddy was there, too. We all celebrated the new life together.
Teddy stayed with us all that winter. He helped cut wood, carry water (we did not have running water) and clean house. The first 3 months of my pregnancy were the worst, morning sickness all day. Having Teddy there was a blessing for us. My husband wasn't really enthusiastic about lamaze classes so Teddy went with me and was my coach.
Teddy played piano and guitar, we didn't have a piano, but I had a guitar. Many nights we would stay up, Ted would play and we would sing together. The music was a connection that bonded us as friends.
We also did not have a television, if we wanted to watch a movie we would go next door to my parents house. We had to walk down through the woods to get there, one night we watched a scary movie, he aggravated me to no end as we walked up through those trees. Looking back I find it humorous, not so much then.
After Adam was born Teddy stayed with us for awhile, we would go hiking and he would carry Adam in the baby pack. I think it was a healing time for Teddy, he had lost his own family, but he became a member of ours for awhile.
He always knew our door was open to him. He would come again, years later, after our daughter was born and our children were older and live with us again. My husband says just before Teddy came he saw a hawk in the sky and thought of Teddy, how he wanted to see him, about the same time Teddy saw a hawk in the sky too and had the urge to come see Fred. Teddy came and built a teepee down back, there he lived for a season. We didn't know it at the time, but there wouldn't be much time left in Teddy's life. It wasn't long after he moved away that he passed away in his sleep one night.
When I think of my friend I think of his amazing sense of humor, he could always make me laugh. I will always remember the nights we shared our love of music, the mornings we would have coffee together, or the days we would go hiking together. Memories are like treasures stored up in your heart, sometimes you want to pull them out and look at the beauty. In my heart I have the treasure of my friend.
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