Taste of Home

I've been wondering what I mean exactly when I say "I feel homesick". For someone who has lived in so very many places, home could mean so very many things to me. It could be a smell, a taste, a place, a being, an experience etc.

But the one thing that consistently comes up as "home" to me is a place I've only been to a handful of times. For some reason it has just dug its way deep into me and won't let go. And now from well over 35 years ago, it calls me often, making me think of it as home.

When I was young and living in Kenya, my parents would vacation at a cottage by the sea. On occasion, my brother Tes and I (the youngest two) got the chance to accompany them. And for me those weeks spent by the sea were the most peaceful, joy filled, happiest moments of my childhood.

I remember endless hours of wadding in shallow waters, swimming over the reef, examining every sea creature and shell I came across. I honestly think I became a biologist because of these moments. I'd spend forever sat alone against the palm trees on the beach or on our veranda just looking out to sea, daydreaming and watching distant ships passing by. I can smell the air, heavy with the scent of ocean salt, citrus and fresh perfume of the bougainvillea bushes.

I earned a very healthy respect for baboons and monitor lizards on those trips. I learned how much I loved to swim in that sea. I learned I was a mean UNO player in that cottage. But one of the best lessons I learned in that place was that it was possible to be at peace. For the first time I experienced the possibility that a place could soothe and gentle you.

Google tells me that the place (Coral Cove Cottages) is still there on Tiwi Beach. If I was well enough to travel, I'd run off to one of those cottages and spend forever on its veranda. I'd eagerly await the visits from the fisherman while he calls out "Samaki! SAMAKI!" (Swahili for fish). Man that fresh red snapper tasted like home.

Today's illustration is ofcourse of a Red Snapper.

Red Snapper - Digital Art