Today is the first day of keeping this journal. It has been a long time since I have written. After all a poor seaside fisherman should not know how to write.

However, I find myself slowly forgetting the past, my memories are slowly sinking into obscurity.

My hair has become completely gray now, I scarcely remember the days it used to be anything different. It has been nothing but silence since the day my wife passed. Now I did not even have my children, my son’s having been conscripted into the war. Made to fight in a land far away from their homes.

They were fishermen, strapping, athletic young men, but they did not know how to fight. The magistrate took them, our village has nothing, how are we expected to feed ourselves without the young men. More than that, they were all I had left… But it does not matter, we have no power to protest.

It is in these moments that I realize how much I have lost. No longer do I possess the strength to fight, that fight withered away on the day I fled here all those years ago. Forever fearful of my past, afraid it would catch up to me one day.

Decades have passed since then, and now I find myself forgetting why I fled in the first place or where I fled from. I have become weak, even as I write this, I can feel the bones in my hand creaking. Yet everyday I must go back out to sea, without son’s, I do not have the luxury of sitting around lest I starve.

I will go take a walk along the shore, the cooling breeze and soft feel of the sand between my toes I have always found calming. To sit upon an errant rock and observe the sway of the trees, the roiling waves and perhaps the occasional creature swimming across the surface.

The seas could be vicious and cruel, but also full of love and beauty. You can never know what you will find.

Today was a fortuitous day, the weather was perfect, the seas calm, I even managed to catch a few fish for dinner. The sunset was most awe inspiring, it always is, its soft glow upon the horizon as it dips below the mountains across the sea.

Tomorrow if the weather holds, I may try to sail out to the reef and search for some larger fish. Maybe even go diving for pearls, I would have to give it a little try, just to see if I even have the strength anymore.

The seas always seem to lend me strength, here my hips and joints are always aching. But in the seas the pressure is lessened, I feel as if I can move freely, like a bird in the sky or a fish in water. Truly sometimes I wonder if it would have been better to be born a creature of the sea.

Speaking of creature of the sea, I came across a beached octopus on the way home. Poor thing was trapped under a piece of driftwood, his limbs were beginning to dry from exposure. I do not know why, but I did not wish to see it die.

Once I removed the piece of wood, I noticed the unique color of the creature. An alluring azure blue tint, similar to the ocean in the light of the morning sun. Even as I observed it struggling to crawl away, its skin seemed to fluctuate changing hues to match the surroundings.

If I did not know better I would the little one was eyeing me, watching my movements the way one might cautiously move away from a pack of wolves. That thought however was ridiculous, this creature was just that, an animal. It did not think the way we do, and simply acted on instinct.

The little creature easily fit into the palm of my hand; it was not able to crawl away, easily getting trapped within the sand. So, I chose to give it a ride back home, scooping the thing up.

I will say, it was quite nice. At first it rolled inwards, but a few moments rubbing its head with my finger and it warmed up. Strangely enough, after the first few minutes, it actually leaned into my hand wanting more.

It was such an adorable reaction, reminding me of the time my sons were young. How much they loved being held, how much attention they wanted. Hard work yes, but I loved my children… you only ever understand what you had when it is gone.

I was sure that this creature’s family was the same. It took some time to get the octopus to let go, but eventually it drifted off into the great blue. I will try to remember the feeling of its spongy body, the short time we spent together.

This was another day filled with memories, which this journal will help me to never forget. If luck would have it, maybe one day we will meet again.