The ferry “Wenatchee” enroute to Bainbridge Island, WA. Photo by Tobias Eigen: Wikimedia Commons
Only after I moved to Seattle did I learn another meaning of the English word sound. Puget Sound, which I can see from my house every day (except for very foggy days), is so calm that the ferries that run between the shores don’t have doors to close the parking space.
My mother used to take me from Osaka to Tokushima to visit her hometown via ferry. The Seto Inland Sea in Japan is known to be calm, but I’ve never seen a ferry as open as the one in Puget Sound. When my mother first came to Seattle, she thought this vast water was a lake.
Having lived here in Seattle for almost 30 years, I now associate the word “sea” with this calm, quiet, serene impression. When I walk along the shores on Boardwalk in Bellingham or a pathway along Elliott Bay in Seattle, I feel like a baby floating in a mother’s womb.
The first life form came from the sea, didn’t it? There must be a reason why I feel that way!