2004-06-03 | 12:32 p.m.

The islands, there for the taking. The plane swooped down low over the sea, the water a brilliant blue, a clear turquoise holding the bright sun and clouds. That first glimpse of Greece from the air, indelibly burned into memory, as striking as the bleached houses rising above the coastline, the dry hills, the pistachio trees.

It was hot, the hottest July, heat shimmering off Athens in waves and so we escaped to the island on which my grandfather was born. The ocean was calmer there, and cool. My skin browned from days spent climbing cliffs and swimming on empty beaches; the mediterranean sun is fierce yet benevolent: a true reflection of the ancient god, perhaps. That fiery chariot. Those ancient lands. The feeling of finding part of yourself that you did not know was missing: an inexplicable homecoming.