Folks, this week wraps up year 2022, and I want to send out hearty note of cheers and good wishes to my friend John, and his lovely bride Frieda, who are closing up shop, at Stars Jewelry store, down on Main Street in Damariscotta after 28 years of serving the community.
Now I really do wish them the best, but as I went into their shop for my annual trek to get my lovely bride Sue something for Christmas, it struck me – not only struck me, but hit me hard, like losing a pet maybe – that this was going to be the last piece of jewelry that I ever buy from him. I was so torn, like here it is, Christmas, and we should be happy, yet I’m feeling like a lost soul!
I asked myself, “Self, what in the world are you going to do now, when I need something nice for Ms. Sue?” Then I thought, OMG! There are probably hundreds of poor fools like me that over the last 20 years have come to John, usually at the last minute, and he always knows what their special lady likes for jewelry! What are we going to do, I thought. Ladies might like maybe something out of the garden department at the local hardware store, sure, but that’s a one off.
All ladies like jewelry, at least I never met one that didn’t, and here we are, losing our best and only hope for the proverbial home run! It’s like Casey’s last at bat, the tide’s not gonna rise, and it’s going to rain all summah!
The more I thought of these dire consequences that were ahead for myself, and a lot of men in the Midcoast, the more panicked I felt. What are we going to do? Where are we going to find another John who always has a laugh or a story to share. Who am I going to go to, when I want to talk a little town politics? How was I going to get a feel for the “pulse” of Main Street, if I didn’t have my guy John to go to?
My throat got kinda tight on me as my friend John showed me something for Ms. Sue for Christmas, my brain a little foggy as I tried to listen to him, while at the same time trying to desperately pull myself out of the panic that was setting in, knowing this time, was going to be the last time for John to find “just the right piece” for “ole Larry!”
It was a valiant effort on my part not to shed a tear, as he found just the right gift for my bride, and I really do wish him and his lady well in the future, but for the rest of us men out here in the land of “shopping desperation,” I just want you all to realize that we are SOL – so out of luck!
I’m sure that there is another jewelry store in the future, but there will never be another John, another Stars! Always with a smile, a quick wit, and that funny accent that sounds just about as thick as mine. John was the star in Stars, he learned his craft well from his lady, Frieda, and just ran with it, making thousands of people happy along the way.
He asked me, as I passed him my debit card, what I missed most about being self employed, “nothing,” I replied, being a small business in today work society is difficult and getting harder. He agreed, and said he wasn’t sure exactly what he was going to do with no reason to get up and go to the shop every day. Well I can appreciate all that, because as those of us who have been around for a while understand that all good things come to an end.
As tragic as my friend’s closing of his store has been to my state of self pity, I am tickled to know that he is charging into retirement of his own free will and I ask all that have been John and Frieda’s patrons to raise a glass in toast to their retirement! I’ll miss you my friend, but just in case boredom gets the best of you I think that I hear Hollywood … Sheepscot Road is looking for a character, and you my friend will fit the bill…
See ya next time!
Larry Sidelinger
Damariscotta
