Monday, April 28, 2008

Across a sea of forget-me-nots

Across an ocean of forget-me-nots
9,200 miles separate my sister and me. And different cultures, dialect, mores and lives. She lives in Western Australia, and I in Portland, Oregon. The last time I saw her was in 2001. We used to be very close. Now? Not so much. 9,200 miles is a long, long ways away. But looking at her stunning photos on Flickr I can see her life, her kids and husband, and the amazing landscape of Australia. Seriously. Amazing. Especially now since she's been "on holiday" in the northern and remote area of Exmouth. The photo above is Mangrove Bay, near the Ningaloo Reef. Their own beach for the day.

Last week we received in the mail a paper "blog" detailing their journey, along with a map, a pinch of the red sand from the area, and lots of details and drawings from their journey. I look at it every day and read a bit. I feel those 9,200 miles shrinking.

I gazed at the blue of the sky and the water, and the horizon, and later that day, saw in my own backyard a sea of blue. A wave of blue forget-me-nots have made themselves at home in the garden. My little blue ocean. And I thought of my sister's ocean. And all of the ocean in between us. And I smiled. Beautiful.

4 comments:

A Lewis said...

Distance is really something, isn't it? Sometimes it seems like SO far....other times, not nearly far enough. And mostly, it's perception. That plus a $2,000 airline ticket!

Ms. Junie said...

awesome post..very cool of her to send you all the details like that..beautiful pictures

Rozanne said...

You know what? That beach in Australia doesn't look so different from some of our lonely beaches in Oregon. Same ocean--anyway!

Have you read In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson. You should, if you haven't.

Did you know that you are prominently featured on the upcoming events bulletin board at the Hollywood Library? It was cool to go in there the other day and see your event listed. Nice photo, too.

Looking forward to it!

Unknown said...

Just reading this made me smile and realize that maybe the miles between my sisters and I aren't so great after all. I need to keep that in mind as I'll soon be even farther away, geographically anyhow.