I grew up feeling a strong connection with Georgia O’Keefe and believed I would be home, feel rooted, the day I set foot in Abiquiu, N.M. What happened was, the day I disembarked the fast ferry from Quonset, R.I., with my youngest son who was nine, and climbed into an open-air Jeep to stay with a friend off Waldron’s Bottom Road, everything changed.
I awoke at sunrise on our first morning and took a 45-minute walk, all the way down to Long Point. I followed the dirt road straight to the beach on a quiet, clear blue morning. I walked down the beach, then over a small dune, to find an enticing pond with mist hanging over the water. I removed my clothes, left my Crocs, and went for a swim. Never had I imagined swimming in a pond and hearing the ocean. I was home –– although my clothes were exactly where I’d left them but my Crocs were nowhere.
Our hostess showed us all over the Island. One evening, we were driving out of Edgartown when my son pointed out a King Charles Cavalier puppy on the glow of a flashlight. I asked our hostess to pull over so my son could say hi. The owner handed my son her flashlight, as he delighted in this exuberant puppy playfully pouncing on the moving light target. I explained we had a Brittany with the same liver-and-white coloring who was nearing the end of his life and that my children had made me promise our next dog would be a Cavalier.
The following afternoon, I spent a couple of hours with a local realtor. I had been looking for a house near a pond on Cape Cod for over a year since my mother had passed away. I had no idea where I was as the realtor drove me around the Island. A week later, I returned for one day to look at houses. The last home on Price’s Way was turnkey, in my budget, and near enough to the video store that my sons could ride their bikes there or into town.
I put in an offer, and it was accepted. I showed up at my lawyer’s office just after a Long Point swim wearing a towel wrapped around my lower half and a work shirt. The laidback life of the Vineyard was a welcome change for this lifelong New Yorker. After seeing the change in my children, who had both attended summer camp at the Farm Institute, we decided to make our home on the Vineyard two weeks before school started in 2005.
Now, as I head toward a June bone-marrow transplant, the support of my Island community means the world to me. Home is not something I ever felt in my heart, before living on the Vineyard.
This essay was sent to us in response of our writing prompt Vineyard Love Story. Long Point photo by Frankie Drogin.
O Valerie this is such a beautiful love story and so universal for so many of us who call this magical place and this loving community HOME.
And ps being able to share your bone marrow journey is so wise and so healthy. Now tvst we know more about narrative medicine and healing. We are with you honey bunch!!!🩵
Thanks Nancy!!
A truly heartfelt tribute to your Island home and family. They are with you every step of the way with endless and grace.
Thank you Larry
Valerie, thank you for your beautiful essay. It is truly a love story and one that so many of us have experienced in our own ways but leading us to never wanting to leave this beautiful island. Wishing you a successful transplant and complete healing.
Thank you Janice.
A beautiful essay written with grace and honesty. I wish you the strength to continue on your journey to health away from your home environment. Needless to say “home is where the heart is “Please know your heart is at home with us on MV❤️
Thank you Ellie
Your heartfelt story brought tears. At age 10, I just couldn’t convince my daughter to move to the a Vineyard. I just returned back from Edgartown, because it’s the only place I’ve ever visited, for over 40 years now, a few times a year, that is still HOME to me. You are in good hands there surrounded by the antidote of nature and people to get you through.
Thank you Mary.
Aw Nancy- all going well, no pain, hungry as can be, writing, listening to audio books and getting 30 minute infusions daily.
Glad my kids are close by! Thanks for your support!
Love this, Valerie! Certainly can relate to many things you spoke about in your lovely essay. Even though many places have changed throughout the years, I think many areas on the Vineyard have remained the same. Thank you for bringing out those memories for us.
You’re so welcome Jill.
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