A letter looking for someone · A stranger I met once
A stranger at Kitsilano Beach, 1976
Sent Oct 10, 2026
- Where & when
- Kitsilano Beach · Vancouver · Canada ~1976 a patch of sand near the lifeguard chair
- About them then
-
A woman of about thirty with curly red hair and a straw hat, who sat on the sand next to me and shared her lunch. She spoke slowly and used her hands, and laughed kindly whenever either of us got a word wrong.
- Who I was then
- The new arrival in a thick wool cardigan on a hot day, holding a baby and one English phrasebook.
- Why I'm writing
- To say thank you · Just hoping my words reach them
- Written on behalf of
- Written by her granddaughter
We had landed three weeks earlier and I knew almost nobody. At the beach, a stranger sat beside me, shared a sandwich and spent the whole afternoon teaching me the names of things: sand, wave, bucket, sun. When I cried because I could not thank her properly, she held the baby so I could wipe my eyes. I never learned her name. I am eighty-two now and would like to say thank you in my own English.
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