A bit of homesick?

Thank you, good ol' Facebook. Recently, I've reconnected with my friends from high school days. Some live out of the country (China and France!), some live in the town they grew up, and others live far from home - but not as far as I have come. It is fun but somewhat weird to see your old friends being moms...I guess it's been almost 20 years since those high school days. (wow, I'm getting old...)

Then, my brother started a blog. He is the captain of the fishing/crab catching boat my family own and he posts updates from the boat, smack in the middle of Sea of Japan! And he posts pictures like this

picture of the boat (source: http://matsueimaru.com/blog)

 and this. 

a view from the boat (source: http://matsueimaru.com/blog)

Isn't it a beautiful place?  I grew up looking at this. And I took it granted. I remember school teachers who were "stationed" to the tiny little town would say, "Children, you live in a beautiful place! Your town is surrounded by mountains in the back and a beautiful view of ocean. How lucky you are!"

Well, I didn't think so, at least back then. It was small. I had never saw a horizon except over the ocean. Because of it is such a small town, everyone knew everyone else's business (this part, I guess I don't really miss). I was just ready to get out of there.

And I did, ended up being here almost as far as I could possibly could.

No regret. I'm happy where I am. But now I am just very thankful for the place I grew up in.

It's just simply beautiful. Just like those teachers told us years ago. I just didn't know it.

Now I know it. 

And I can smell the air from the photo my brother posted - the food, the ocean, and even the splash of the sea water.

When I was in high school, a friend of mine told me that she could smell the ocean when she visited my home town. I didn't understand what she was talking about back then. Because I lived in it.

It's been 6 years since I breathed the air and ate the fresh seafood. I think I'm having a bit of homesick.