goodbye 29 of 30

Goodbye to the sea and to the life I built beside it.


I grew up in the mountains. In a green valley that burns red and yellow and orange all autumn long, surrounded by smooth, seamless hills that sleep white and sparkling through the long winter. I am in love with these mountains, and I miss these mountains when I am gone for too long. But sometimes you have to leave a place to really be able to see it.

I’ve always wanted to live near the ocean. My grandmas are from a fishing town and I was always able to visit the sea, but could never really stay. The mountains are my home but the sea is an adventure I’ve always wanted to have.

So I did it. I moved to a place near the sea, though actually it’s actually more of a bay, and I wouldn’t call it tropical, but more like sweltering, and no it’s never been a paradise, but there’s always been this big, black volcano, that sometimes burns red at sunset, and even today, on my last day, I am in awe of that.

It’s been fun. I’ve eaten what I wanted to eat and seen what I wanted to see, and I’ve eaten what I never knew I’d want to eat, and I’ve seen what I never knew I wanted to see. The beach is cool now and filled with morning people, with old women walking dogs and their husbands walking beside them, but backwards, which has always been something that’s fascinated me in Asia. People walk backwards, slowly, and usually in the early morning, for exercise, for something, and I say, why not? I tried it once but I lack their grace, and I tripped over my own big feet.

I’m not ready to go home. And I’m ready to go home.