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Happy Year of the Dragon. Here is my Dragon Girl Bird sculpture from 2018.

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Sunday, March 13, 2016

To see the sea for the first time

When I was a grad student at the U of Florida, I lived in "family housing" called Corey Village.  Most of the residents had children, or were married so had spouses.  I met a dear family from Nepal, where the husband was studying Forestry.  His wife spoke almost no English, and they had son around 2 at the time.
Her first time to see the ocean (my son in the waves)

My friend Nancy and I decided that the wife (who's name I have unfortunately forgotten) needed to see the sea (er Atlantic Ocean) while she lived in Florida.  So we planned a Saturday trip to the beach.  (I think her husband had perhaps seen the ocean once before.)


Of course she had to borrow one of my swim suits.  My son, Tai, was already a fish in water, so I was comfortable with his playing in the waves.

Nancy (in hat) and Tai (another hat) with family from Nepal at Corey Village, U of Florida, Gainesville, FL

Nancy and I had such a great time sharing this event with this family.  Nancy was a friend from my Quaker Meeting.

Nancy Tyler and Barb Rogers, St. Augustine, Florida 1985
I'm adding this to Sepia Saturday this week...
there are some hats in my photos!

17 comments:

  1. What a lovely memory and such great pictures ! THe delight on the young woman's face is so real -- for a moment I could feel the waves and smell the salt air.

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  2. What delight on her face seeing the ocean. I wonder if they went back to Nepal?

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  3. A nice story of you befriending that Nepalese family, especially the wife, who must have felt very strange when she didn't speak much English. Had to read to the end to see what the connection might be with this week's theme, I must admit, not that there needs to be one anyway.

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  4. I grew up near the ocean and now live near the mountains! How I miss the ocean!

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  5. I tried to comment earlier but to no effect. It was very kind of you to befriend that Nepalese family, who must have found life in Florida very strange. I must admit I had to read the whole of your post before realising the subtle connection to this week's prompt, not that there has to be one anyway :-)

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    1. I was not on computer moderating comments when the first one came. Glad you really wanted to comment!

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  6. It's hard to imagine people not having seen the sea so it must have been a rewarding experience taking part in this expedition.

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    1. I'm glad I took these pictures so I'd remember the event.

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  7. What happy, animated photos and a lovely memory.

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  8. What a lovely post, Barbara. Interestingly enough, my own grandparents lived their entire lives in the NC mountains and never once saw the ocean. We went to Nags Head every year on vacation and my mother tried very hard to get my grandparents to come with us but they both died never having seen nor smelled nor tasted the ocean waters.

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    1. I have traveled so much in my life, it is hard to believe there are so many people who stay in their own area all their lives.

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  9. That's a wonderful set of photos to have as a memento of someone's special day. Many of our ancestors lived entire lives staying only within a small landscape. Sadly I've met people here in the mountains who've never been to the mountains!

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    1. Any time I go to the beach now is a special day (because I've been living so far from it for a while.) Mike, I know what you mean about mountain-folk not "going to the mountains."

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  10. Such a very kind to do to take this sweet family to the beach. Loved the photos.

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  11. Great post, Barbara! I, too, am a Quaker; our Meeting (Brunswick Monthly, Falmouth Quarterly, New England Yearly) used to sponsor children from the inner city, and I oftentimes had kids staying on the farm in the summertime. Most of them had never seen a cow, let alone lived with 40 of them!

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    1. Deb, I am no longer a Quaker, due to a painful event. That's great that you had the city kids on your farm.

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Thanks for your comments...