They say you never miss the water until the well runs dry.

Well, the Oak Bluffs post office hasn’t run dry, but Paul Leonard is missed to an aching degree.

Does he know how much he is loved? I’m not talking about efficiency, I’m not talking about knowledge. I’m talking about his spirit, his care, his personal touch. I’m talking about how he cared about each of us.

He taught me how to make small talk while waiting for a package, how to talk about the weather, the children, the town news. I never knew how to do that before.

When my friend Sandy Grymes called me up in tears:

“Oh my God, oh my God.”

“What the matter?” I said, assuming that someone had died.

“He’s gone, he’s gone.”

“Who?”

“Paul, oh my God, what will happen to me?”

Slowly, in Edith Bunker style, she explained to me that Paul was retiring and that without him, her entire life is destroyed.

For Paul it must be like being alive at your own funeral, hearing how much people loved you, respected you, relied upon you. Yet the man is totally alive, a new man, a renaissance man, spunky, alert and kinder than ever.

It’s act two for Paul and I look forward to seeing what he is going to do next.

I wonder if he knows just how much he is loved and admired.

Abigail McGrath

Oak Bluffs