It has taken me all day to come up with words to post, and they still won't be everything I want to say.

Leo was always the first person I'd look for when I arrived t Getaway. We'd do the chitchat thing, he'd ask me how I was doing, and one year, he let me finish blathering on and then said : "OK, now how are you REALLY doing?" I think it was the year I helped remove my mother from an abusive relationship. Whatever. He knew I had the happy face on and that wasn't what he wanted to know about.

I remember one year he was knitting tiny little sweater sets for a grand niece the whole Getaway. The love for that child shone all over him while he was knitting them. And the year he sang "Lullaby For a Borrowed Child", a song he'd written. And the warm hugs, good conversation, wicked humor, and beautiful voice. The two of us swapping stupid tourist stories - he grew up on Cape Cod, and I grew up on the coast of Maine - and the things we'd do to the obnoxious ones. It's amazing how much fun you can have "giving" directions to annoying tourists.

Most of all, what I I will remember about Leo is his warmth and kindness.