A Moment Over the Ocean

Recent events have lead me back to my bookshelf and the unopened book my Grandmother sent years ago, Evangeline by Longfellow. My grandfather recently pass away and both grandparents are in my thoughts a lot these days. When I opened the book, I discovered a little card tucked in the pages. The paper was gorgeous, printed up to look like a little patchwork quilt of some sort and on the front my name had been written in my grandmother's handwriting. In the card she wrote about our family origins in Louisiana and and linked it with Evangeline, the poem by Longfellow. She hoped that I would love it as she does. I'm not sure whether she means the book in particular or the poem but I'm guessing she means the poem. So I decided to open my mind to Longfellow for my Grandmother's sake and read the poem so dear to her heart. I still haven't read it all, it is a long poem, but I have read a part of it and I can see why my grandmother loves it. Its more a story than a poem. It is whimsical and quite poetic but rather than evaluate each line I went ahead and just read it and I quickly got a feel for the forest in Acadie. I could hear the ocean far away and almost smell the trees. I'm not going to rush in and finish it now though, I'm going to savour each part, reading it slowly. It'll be like sharing a little something with Grandma. Gaining a little insight into her world from the other side of the world.