Waiting for the Whales
I recently learned that the third Sunday of February is World Whale Day. Last Friday, in a strange pre-solar eclipse dream, I swam with a baby whale. It dragged my body beyond my comfort, into the depths of the sea. Its body weighed against my pointless effort to reach the surface. Exhaustion made me give in and once I stopped resisting it, I found myself deep underwater… breathing.
Dreams, just like books, tend to come to us exactly when we need them. A whisper in the ear.
This dream brought me back to a most earnest story that takes place on an island in the Pacific Northwest. Originally published in 1991, Waiting for the Whales was written by Sheryl McFarlane and illustrated by Ron Lightburn, whose pencil crayons work captures the West Coast light and moods that shift with the seasons.
The book speaks of our relationship to place- the meaning we embody from repetition, from visiting and revisiting the same stretches of beach, the rainforest of our childhood. The passing of time. The way people come- and they also go, sometimes, only to return.
A treasured relationship- between a grandfather and his granddaughter. Who slowly built their knowing each other upon a life lived in gentle relationship with the land, the forest, and the sea. Seedlings, they patiently water and watch them grow. Crops they harvest and mostly give away. The orcas- a metaphor for steadiness, heart presence, wisdom. The girl grows older and one summer’s end, the grandfather dies, on the very day when the orcas return. His straw hat rests peacefully on the floor of his cedar cottage. Grief is felt in the echoes of stillness.
The girl, with her serious face and inquisitive look, continues on- tending for the garden, gathering firewood. Remembering him in each gesture. Wondering if it’s him she sees in that smaller dorsal fin swimming in the golden waters of the Pacific Ocean. This story is a reminder of the ephemeral quality of our existence and the infinite ways our presence remains alive- long after we are gone.
Pender Island 2013. Photo by @maxdsbrown
The book won several awards, including the Governor General’s Literary Award for Illustration.
