Gift from the Sea

It seems only fitting that my first post should be a tribute to Anne Morrow Lindbergh's wonderful book, Gift from the Sea. True, it was written in a simpler time, when women's roles were more defined...for better or worse. But Anne was a worldly gal, and she got the big picture.

My copy is dog-eared and highlighted in multiple neon translucent shades. The first draft of The Shell Keeper actually had a quote from her wonderful book at the start of each chapter. Numerous edits determined....sadly, that it was better not to include them. But her voice stays in my mind and I hope its spirit is in my book.

Del, Claire and Gwen, my 'gals' in The Shell Keeper are all learning, in Anne's words, to live through the ebb-tides of one's existence. The shells Anne wrote about back in 1955, as concepts for the passages of a woman's life, also inspire Gwen as she captures their beauty and characters on canvas.

If Gwen had read Gift from the Sea she would surely have pulled out her hot pink highlighter to underscore this: And my shells? They are there to remind me that the sea recedes and returns eternally.