A few years ago, before leaving Canada for London, a took a week’s break in a little wood cabin off the Gatineau River. The cabin belonged to friends of my aunt and uncle, and neighbored my family’s home. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time with my aunt and uncle that week, just hanging out. And yet after watching TV with them in the evening, I would return to my little cabin to sleep.

The wood cabin had no locks on its door – and I was in bear country. Spiders lived in it with me. It had a room, a shower room, and a big front room with the kitchen and a huge kitchen table. Before the table was a wall occupied with long windows that gave out unto the river. My aunt had arranged a vase of flowers on the table as a welcome gift.

The week passed too quickly and I did not end up writing my first novel, as I had planned. Still, the nature, the river and the calm were a balm for my stressed out self. Before leaving I told my aunt, “One day, I want to live by water, whether a river or a lake or the sea.” She replied, “Ha! That’s what everybody wants!”

Last night while working, I could hear the gentle rush of small waves breaking on the slanted pier of the sailing school that’s at the back of our boat. If I walk 100 meters, beyond the sailing school and the breaker made of stones, the Mediterranean sea spans out in front of me, with a beach to my right and the Pyrenees mountains beyond it.

I don’t know if I will allows have the chance to live by water, but for right now, for this time & place, I am very grateful.

The pier of the sailing school.

My new backward. 🙂

We can’t see the Pyrenees because of the clouds, but on a clear day they are visible.