Joy at the shore // Wilmington photographer

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.
– Isak Dinesen

This family’s story is not mine to tell, but I can tell you this.

Moving across the country and landing across the street from them was such bittersweet serendipity. Or fate. Or whatever you like to call it.

And that in offering myself to serve them in the small way I knew how, I learned that I needed them as well.

I needed them to show me the beauty in fear, and uncertainty, and faith, and heartbreak, and leaning on one another in a time of sorrow.

I needed them to allow me to be of service, and to be part of something so meaningful at a time in my life when I felt driftless and alone.

The pain they have gone through is unimaginable. But bearing witness to their fortitude, their love for each other, and their strength has changed me. And I’m not the only one.

We go to the sea for healing. To be part of something bigger than ourselves. To feel that tug of the tide saying that the landscape of our lives may be changed or scarred, but it is no less beautiful, and that we can carry on.

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