CHAPTER 1: WHISPERS OF THE SEA

“If the ocean can calm itself, so can you. We are both salt water mixed with air.”

— Nayyirah Waheed

We had two Cavalier King Charles

From my earliest memories, the ocean called to me like an old friend. I grew up in the quaint village of Grayshott, in the south of England—a place where life moved slowly, with one hairdresser, one pub, and a church standing sentinel in the center.

Summers were sacred, marked by Mum’s picnic baskets and the hour-long drive to Bracklesham Bay.

Those trips weren’t just outings; they were my sanctuary. The moment my toes sank into the sand, the anger and restlessness that simmered inside me quieted. I built sandcastles that reached for the sky, chased waves that whispered secrets, and felt a profound calm wash over me.

The sea soothed the parts of me that words couldn’t reach—I couldn’t speak until I was three, and dyslexia made the world feel like a tangled puzzle.

But by the water, I was whole. Mum knew this; she instilled in me a treasure, a love for the ocean that would guide me through life’s storms. Little did I know, those beach days were planting the seeds of a destiny I would chase across continents.

My Mum, Julia