A Little Piece of Home

            Sailing on the Harvey Gamage has introduced me to many new, different and interesting friends, both onboard and on shore. Some of the most special onshore connections I’ve made thus far were created, and even rediscovered in Grenada. This was a complete surprise to me. It was our first night anchored in Grenada, and the whole student body was scattered about the deck, sewing ditty bags for Nav Sea class. One of the small boats came along the port side and up climbed Doris (pronounced Door-es), a small French woman with big hair and an even bigger personality. The moment I saw her, I knew she was familiar.

            “Where are you from?” I asked her. She told me she was from France originally, but lives permanently in New Hampshire. Hearing this, my suspicion heightened, as I myself am also a permanent New Hampshire resident. Very excitedly I asked her,

            “Do you bake bread?”

            “Yes, I am a baker,” she replied, a little taken back.

            “I think you used to buy eggs from my mom,” I practically shouted.

She asked me if I lived in Washington and I confirmed that I do. We both smiled at each other and my previously downtrodden, homesick mood was pushed away by this re-encounter with a woman from an old memory. Back then I knew her not as Doris, but as the “bread lady.” My family would buy her fantastic flat bread at the local farmer’s market when I was six or seven. It was a sort of family outing, and I remember it fondly. She had not been to the farmer’s market in several years and I sometimes wondered what had become of her. Meeting her again in Grenada in such an unusual circumstance was incredible. It was also incredible to learn that some people in my town are largely a part of what Doris has been doing in Grenada with the Cocoa plantation. This was probably the last place I was expecting to find “a little piece of home.”

Sarah Holdner