25 Jul Gift from the Sea
Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s beautiful book, Gift from the Sea, is a summer treasure. Every morning, as I sit upon my sunny deck, grateful for a little time alone, sipping sweet coffee, taking in stunning views of mountain and sky, I journal and read and reflect.
Marking sections of Morrow Lindbergh’s beauty of a book, at this point, I cannot fathom the words of wisdom that wind their way over the pages, flowing in and out with the breath of the sea, were penned by a woman who’s early adulthood was marked by such intense tragedy.
Shockingly, while researching this book–reading reviews and blogs and even essay excerpts by American college students for whom the book was required reading–rarely did I find reference to the fact the Lindberghs’ (Anne was married to Charles Lindbergh, the famed aviator) lost their first child in the famous kidnapping of baby Lindbergh. For an overview of that history, here’s the wiki link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindbergh_kidnapping
The Lindberghs went on to have five more children, and in fact, my copy of Gift from the Sea is the 50th anniversary edition in which daughter, Reeve Lindbergh, has penned a lovely introduction to her mother’s famous work.
Reeve says, “At whatever point one opens Gift from the Sea, to any chapter or page, the author’s words offer a chance to breathe and to live more slowly…after just a few pages I always begin to relax into that movement and to feel like something that belongs to the tide–just another piece of flotsam, floating in the great oceanic rhythms of the universe. This, in itself, is deeply reassuring.”
Show me a woman out there (or a man, for that matter) who could not benefit from a few moments of peaceful pleasure every morning?
From Wikipedia, here’s an overview of the book. Why not pick one up and bring a little of the sea to your soul.
Gift from the Sea is a book by Anne Morrow Lindbergh first published in 1955.
While on vacation on Florida’s Captiva Island in the early 1950s, Lindbergh wrote this essay-style work taking shells on the beach for inspiration, and reflecting on the lives of Americans, particularly American women, in the mid-twentieth century. She shares her meditations on youth and age; love and marriage; peace, solitude and contentment during her visit.
Sometimes classified as inspirational literature, the book presages many of the themes in that genre of popular literature: simplicity, solitude and caring for the soul. Gift from the Sea has sold over 3 million copies and has been translated into 45 languages.