My Journey to the Atlantic

I remember my trip to France like a fairytale. I was fourteen at the time and I felt that my lifelong dream to see the ocean was about to come true. After all, I was closer to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean than I had ever been before. It was the final two weeks of August and the weather was mostly sunny with occasional clouds appearing in the sky. We were staying in a small city right next to Paris, but quite far from the ocean. As is often the case, my dream did not happen without some obstacles along the way. The story I am going to tell you is about how, even when circumstances made it impossible for my dream to come true, God valued it and made it happen in a more beautiful and exciting way than I could have asked for!

I had always felt a special kind of thrill when I heard the recorded sound of the ocean, or saw a picture of it, and I dreamt of seeing it for myself. Now, as there were only two more weeks left to the summer, I found myself in France with my mother and brother. When I shared my dream with my mom and asked her if we could go to see the ocean, she explained to me that it would be highly unlikely. As I mentioned before, we were quite far from the ocean and we didn’t know anyone in France who could take us there. Even if we chose to take the risk of going by ourselves, we would have to spend all our money on train tickets and expensive hotels. Would it all be worth it, especially when we would have nothing to do there but simply watch the ocean? My mom did not mean to disappoint me, but I understood that we simply could not go. “But,” she added, “You can always pray for it!” I felt a sudden glimmer of hope as I prayed to God and asked him to somehow make my dream happen.

As the days passed and our vacation was almost over, there was no sign that God had even heard my prayer. I had completely put aside the idea of going to see the ocean and had simply concentrated on enjoying the rest of my trip. Perhaps, after all, it was not meant to be. Two days before our flight back to Armenia me and my mom were sitting in our room, when she suddenly looked up at me from her computer’s screen. “I think God may have answered your prayer after all!” As I was trying to understand which prayer she was talking about, she told me what had happened. Apparently, months ago, a woman named Maral had found her on Facebook. Maral was my mom’s first grade classmate’s sister, whom she had never met in real life. Maral’s sister and my mom had gone to the same pre-school in Lebanon and had lost complete contact with each other when my mom and her family had moved away. It turned out that Maral and her sister were now living in France, in the same city that we were in. My mom had told her that we were in France and she agreed that we had to meet. “How about we take you to Norman dine?” she suggested to my mom, who had not told her a word about my dream. She had offered to drive us to the historic place on the shores of the Atlantic. As I sat there, I felt so astonished and happy. I was speechless at the realization that my prayer had been heard and answered after all!

When the cheerful Maral and her kind husband, Armand, came to pick us up with their car, I finally met my heroes. They were one of the most down-to-earth and warm people I had ever met and I instantly liked them. As we got to know each other, I felt like I had known them my entire life. Armand drove us 900 km in total that day, and we talked and laughed and played games on the way. We really bonded on this adventure we were sharing. As we arrived at our destination, I stood in awe at the magnificent sight. I took a deep breath to take it all in; I even pinched myself a few times to make sure this was really happening. I was standing in front of the ocean, I could hear the sound of the waves as they hit the shore, I could smell the freshness of the wind that blew on my face. I raced to the water with my brother, as we dipped our feet in it and ran around, collecting sea shells. Then, when we got hungry, we decided to go to Le Mt. Saint Michel, which became my favorite place in the world as soon as I saw it. It is a small island, surrounded by the tides in alignment with the moon. On the island, an ancient town is built like a fortress. It is now a famous tour site, filled with restaurants, souvenir shops, and Parisian stone streets that lead through the little town. We ate some “salty sheep”; I mean sheep that were naturally salty because they ate the grass that the salty ocean tides had washed over.

As our journey ended and I once again found myself at home, I kept recalling all the beautiful memories I had made. I had asked God to give me a chance to see the ocean, and he had given it to me and so much more. He had made it an adventure, an unforgettable journey, with people that will always stay in my heart. What I discovered through this experience was how valuable my dreams are to God, and I honestly don’t know if I was happier about that discovery, or the fact that my dream had actually come true.