If you had asked me this time two years ago where Vashon Island is located, I would not have been able to tell you. I could not have given you so much as an educated guess, I’m afraid to say.
But then, in November of 2012, my good friend Erin came to visit me in India. I was renting a room in Delhi at the time, and so that became our base for the week. One day – a Tuesday, if I recall correctly – we ventured to a neighborhood called Hauz Khas Village. We found a table at a funky place called TLR Café and began to work. Erin and I met at a travel blogging conference (in Copenhagen, of all places), and so oddly enough, our favorite thing to do as friends is just sit, write, and talk shop together. I don’t remember what was keeping me occupied at the time (clearly it was my life’s work), but I can tell you that Erin was working on a story about a place called Vashon Island.
Over the course of that afternoon, I learned legendary things about Vashon. I learned that you can get there only by ferry or boat, and that although it’s just a 20-minute journey from Seattle, it feels another world away. I learned about its vineyards and farms, about a coffee roasterie that was originally part of a chain that preceded Starbucks, and about how Erin grew up picking blackberries and digging for clams on the beach right below her grandma’s house. It sounded nothing short of magical.
I got to experience the magic for myself exactly eight months later, and it only seemed right to do so with Erin. She was waiting for me at the ferry terminal when I arrived from Seattle, and we spent the next three days picking those fabled blackberries, sipping lattes at the roasterie, and hanging out with her 94-year-old grandma Vera – when we weren’t plotting our book projects, of course.
As you might remember reading, I returned to Vashon again in February – this time to stay with Vera. It was a beautiful two weeks – getting to know the island in another season, for a longer period of time, and getting to know Vera and some of her family more in-depth as well.
I couldn’t have imagined then that the next time I’d be back on the island was for her memorial celebration. Because Vera did indeed pass away, just ten days after I said goodbye to her to this winter, and when I returned to Vashon two weekends ago for the third time, it was not without a bittersweet sense of remembrance.
The sun was warm again, the blackberry bushes not yet ripe but full of promise, and her waterfront house was bursting at the seams with family. Vera’s six children were all there, as were her dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and it felt like something of a full-circle moment to finally meet everyone in person, after hearing so much about them all in February. I marveled at how one friendship had beget another friendship which had suddenly beget forty more.
This past Friday was the Fourth of July, and as we gathered again at Vera’s house to watch the annual fireworks (another Vashon legend I’d heard much about), I kept thinking about how fortunate I am to have stumbled across this magical little island – and into the lives of such a warm, generous, and open-hearted family. And I’ve continued to think about the mysterious ways in which life often works – planting seeds when we least expect it (a friendship born in Copenhagen, a Tuesday afternoon in Delhi), and then giving us equally unexpected opportunities to bring those seeds to fruition.
Sunday night, one of Vera’s sons, Richard, helped me move into her house, where I’ll be staying for the month of July. And it was as we were standing on the front driveway that he said, “I bet you didn’t think this time last year you’d be living on an island in the middle of the Puget Sound, did you?”
He echoed so perfectly what I’d already started writing for this post that it gave me chills, and I felt compelled to tell him so – about how life leads us to learn about and fall in love with certain places.
“Even more it’s the people you meet along the way,” Richard said, and to illustrate this, he told me about visiting the Isle of Man for a motorcycle race this spring, where he sat in a pub watching the bikes ride by and met a pair of travelers from the Netherlands.
“We became part of each other’s worlds, for 45 minutes or so.”
And for the next month, I get to be a part of their Vashon world.
I couldn’t feel more blessed to be here.
Candace,
I’ve been reading your blog since you were in India.
More and more, it feels like I am getting a note from a good friend who has been on the road for awhile. I look forward to your posts. You just put yourself put out there, you share so easily, just like you are writing to a friend. Not an easy thing to do in a public format. Just thought I’d let you know!
Thanks for the postcard, BTW!
Natalie
Natalie, I can’t thank you enough for your comment and kind words – and thank you as well for reading since I’ve been in India…I was so honored to hear that! Truth be told, it was actually while I was living in Goa that my dear friend Hannah (from http://www.furtherbound.com) encouraged me to open up a bit more here and share more of myself and my story in each post.
I’ve been thinking over your comment this week and what you said about writing as though it’s to a friend, and I realized that truly is what this site has become for me…and I think it’s why I felt so off a few weeks back when I didn’t have a chance to post. I’m incredibly grateful for the community of people that has built up around this site, and in many ways, posting here every week feels like checking in with friends who just so happen to be all over the world 🙂
Thank you again for reading, and I’m delighted the postcard reached you safely! How has your summer been so far? xo
Love this. I just had this post messaged to me by a friend, telling me that it reminded him of me! I was blessed with the privilege of being born on Vashon Island! My parents still live in our house I was born in, and I am currently living on the beach at a friend’s adorable beach house on the North End! I’d love to meet you and do some site seeing on the island if you ever return. I am a photographer and know of lots of magical spots to show you. Email me at [email protected] if you so desire. Thanks for the beautiful words/post 🙂
Great Notes, Great pictures. I totally agree w/ Natalie too. Your travels, your blog format and how you put it all into words so easily. Great work.
Thank you, Todd! That truly means so much to me, and I’m really happy to hear you enjoyed the post and photos…it was a fun challenge choosing which ones to include from the Fourth 🙂 (By the way, I’m planning to seriously tackle my inbox this week and am looking forward to writing you back very soon! Can’t wait to hear more about your upcoming travel plans.)
I’ve always been so fascinated how our story lines intersect with one another – sometimes for an hour or a day at a time, sometimes for a lifetime. I tend to get lost in thought wondering how some else’s life will play out after having bounced off of mine. Because often these little chance meetings end up playing a bigger role than we know.
Indeed! I’m right there with you on those long trains-of-thought, Carmel. I hope we’ll all get an opportunity one day to see how our chance encounters and momentary crossed paths influenced one another’s journeys in life. Welcome back to the US, by the way! I hope the reverse culture shock hasn’t been too crazy for you and Shawn 🙂
Welcome back to Washington! Hope you’re having a lovely time, and that Vera’s spirit is with you while you sketch!
Thank you so much, Chandler! It’s wonderful to be back in this beautiful state 🙂 I too had the same thought about Vera’s spirit – especially as I’ll be working on a few different sketching projects while I’m here, I like to think that she’s somewhere close by watching as I work. Can’t wait to see you and catch up very soon! xo
Wow! It’s amazing how our friends/family just seems to grow, the more people we come in contact with. It’s like a miracle. I remember feeling that way when I finally was able to visit a penpal who I’d been writing for six years (at that time, it’s about 11 now) in Alabama. It was amazing. Now they’ve “adopted” me. It’s so sweet! It’s amazing, the people we get to have in our lives.
What a fun story, Elora! I’m so glad you had a chance to finally meet your penpal in person, and how wonderful that you’re now a part of their family as well. I think “miracle” just might be the perfect way to describe it 🙂 Thank you as always for reading and sharing your own stories with us!