I had lived my life on this pier.

My dad proposed on this pier.

My mom told my dad that she was pregnant with me on this pier.

In the winter it would freeze over and we would go ice skating. In the summer we would watch the orcas that called the bay home, just like us.

I had my first kiss at 15 on this pier.

10 years later I said yes, I’ll marry you to the same man on this pier.

I said I do and kissed while surrounded by loved ones on this pier.

Just like my mother, I told my husband we were pregnant on this pier.

Almost two years later, I stood with my baby girl and watched the baby orcas play in the water on this pier.

I watched her grow up on this pier.

Now I hold her young girl in my arms and watch her brother skate on this frozen pier.

Next to me stands my beautiful daughter who has her own family. But she still comes back to this pier.

Now, even as my body ages, my spirit does not.

I stand hand in hand with my loving and caring husband, watching the orcas swimming below us, some bearing scars to show the years they’ve seen, just like us.

As I watch the eternal bay, I thank God for everything that has happened on this pier.