Favorite Place to Be

As a child, I was highly influenced by my grandmother. She was born on Afognak Island and grew up in the village that was eventually destroyed by the 1964 Great Tsunami. Years passed before I was given the opportunity to walk on the dirt roads of the village that once hosted my grandmother and ancestors past. The smell of the summer fruit growing on the bushes and the sweet smell of the ocean tides pulling in the fruitful plates. I could visualize her running through the boardwalks and up the sides of the mountain with her many siblings. When I think of my favorite place to be----it is on Afognak Island between Aleut Town and Russian Village.