Anne Morrow Lindberg | Parenting In the Loop

Solitude at Sunrise

Summer reading seems to be a luxury these days…time just seems to get away from me .

So I have taken to downloading my favorite summer book on my Kindle i-phone app. This allows me to read almost anywhere.

It is not ideal but it has been working for me so far…

When I catch a free moment waiting in an airport or in a doctor’s office I can flip to Gift from the Sea and enjoy a few pages. It is usually enough to calm my pace.

A couple of weeks ago, I shared my love of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s timeless book with all of you. I am wondering if anyone has taken my recommendation and picked up a copy of this wonderful memoir?

Just this past week, I found myself searching the beach for the shells from her pages. Shells for me are little treasures of the sand…you never know what you are going to find.

My walks provided me with some needed solitude and shells to remember those moments. I now have a welk, a sunrise and a moon shell.

Anne uses the welk as a metaphor to explain solitiude. Solitude is something we all seem to need but cannot quite get enough of.

If you are like me…solitude does not come easy . Actually solitude has a way of making me feel lonely rather than at peace with myself…

Peacefulness with oneself is not necessarily a natural feeling. It takes quite a long time for me to enjoy being by myself. In fact, I don’t really enjoy being anywhere alone. I am truly a “city mouse” and when I am in a city walking and people watching I am most happy. Essentially, I am alone, surrounded by strangers.

I am somewhat jealous of Anne Lindbergh’s contentment at the beach alone…she says that it does take her time to wind down and settle in…maybe I have just have never taken the time out to settle in to a state of solitude.

For some reason, I don’t feel safe when I am alone on a beach, on a street or even in an elevator. For me there is safety in numbers.

I feel safe with my husband, family and friends.

To some extent, I can feel alone when I am with people and that is where I find some of my moments of solitude.

Where do you find your moments of solitude? What is your solitude like?

I would love to hear what provides moments of solitude for you!

Actually, I discovered Anne Lindberg’s book many years before I actually sat down and read it while on an idyllic summer vacation on Martha’s Vineyard.

Martha’s Vineyard

My hard cover copy is signed by my father who received it through his “Book of the Month” membership in the 1950’s. I remember seeing this book around my house growing up and being pulled by the title to open its pages. But I was actually too young at the time to understand or appreciate what Anne Lindberg was discussing…although I surely could appreciate her love of the sea.

The sea has always made me feel at peace…my earliest experience of the ocean’s ebb and flow was actually at Rockaway Beach in New York. My grandmother’s dear friend, Alice had a bungalow there, where we would visit and soak up the salt air and play in the sand.

Other happy memories of the seashore included many trips to Jones Beach on Long Island.

It was an adventure with my Dad…since my parents were divorced it was my special time with him. He shared with me his life long love affair with the sea which I have inherited and carry with me to this day. He was an avid competitive swimmer. I always admired him from the shoreline as he swam back and forth way beyond the break of the waves. He taught me respect for the water which is ever our friend as long as we revere its strength and power.

July brings the heat of the summer and with that, out comes my copy of Gift from the Sea. Each time I read Anne’s words I find new meanings…in my eyes she speaks to all women. Her book says different things to a woman depending on what is going on in her life at the time.

So, I hope you will relax with me, and open a copy of this book on your Kindle or buy the hard copy and jot little notes on the side of pages that pop for you.

Let me know if you are along for the read and most of all “Enjoy your summer!”