Feeling "home" where you've never been before

Prince Edward Island in Canada is such a place for me.

Path to Rockbarra Beach on PEI

As I continue to explore the topic of home, I’d like to add that some places, even those never before experienced, can feel like “home” when arrived at. There’s a certain resonance that matches one’s own, compatibility, a sense of familiarity even when completely new.

I have always felt this way on Prince Edward Island in Canada. I have come to the island since 2014 for writing retreats with my novelist friend Holly Robinson (check out her richly woven family mysteries.) She owns a fabulous old farmhouse on PEI that she’s had for more than thirty years. We returned to it in the summers to walk the long, empty pink beaches, drink in the flowers and birdsong, and dream up new stories under the horse chestnut tree that shelters the deck—until our writerly tradition was interrupted by the pandemic’s shutdown of the Canadian border for more than two years.

Even with the border finally open, getting to PEI from Oregon is not a simple matter. PEI is a part of the …