When I lived in France my host mother would try to get me to practice new phrases. One day she asked me if I was missing anything from home. I tried to tell her that I missed the ocean [Our apartment was in the middle of the city, far from the coast], but I kept mixing the words around. I couldn’t find where to place the pronouns. Finally she told me I couldn’t think of it as me missing the ocean, but that the ocean was missing me. Later French studies would tell me she was trying to say “the ocean is being missed by me,” but the original translation stuck.

La mer me manque. The sea misses me.

A mutual understanding I try to never take for granted.

Currently: Home from my island adventure and la mer is not the only thing I miss

[If you are curious these pictures are from Laie point, Hanauma Bay, and Sunset Beach in Oahu, Hawaii.]