I always thought we were odd because we weren’t like those families who took beach holidays. Lebanon is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea, but my family are from its mountainous northern region, so until they came to Australia, my parents had hardly ever visited the beach.
One year, we took a “beach holiday” to Kiama, where we ate plenty of ice-cream and visited the Kiama blowhole, but my mum was petrified of the sea so we never went swimming. Even a walk on the shore ended prematurely because a wave rolled in and hit Mum’s ankles – she thought it was powerful enough to carry us all out to sea.
