Some of my happiest memories involves the ocean. When I was 7, my mom and I moved from Vancouver to Gibsons, on the sunshine Coast. WE moved in with my step-dad, near the ocean. Every morning walking home from school, I would look out onto the ocean and mountains. My family would go to the beach and we would play “skippers and grenades.” My step-dad could skip rocks, and I could throw them, hence the name.

As I grew up life became harder for me. i would fight with my parents, but then I would walk down to the beach, sit and stare at the waves crashing in. The ocean had a way of matching my moods. during the summer, days would be spent with my friends swimming and sun bathing. The smell of seawater never left our skin.

A year ago, I moved away from Gibsons back to Vancouver. i was miserable. My husband was still on the coast, with my cat, and the rest of my family. One day, about three weeks after moving to Vancouver, I went down to the beach and watched the sunset. All I could smell was the ocean, and that was the day that I realized I am not separate from the ocean. I was born to be a part of it, and it will never leave. Now, whenever life gets a little overwhelming I can look and see the ocean, I can smell the salt water, and know that wherever life takes me, as long as I can reach the ocean I am home.