Slice of Life & #52Stories 36/52: At the Ocean

#52Stories is my attempt to write 52 stories from my life during the year 2020. At least one story a week, in no particular order, to remember and document some of the memories and moments of my life.

We're on a brief getaway on an inlet of Puget Sound, two nights with two grand boys, and daughter and son-in-law. It's a delight to go somewhere! My daughter headed straight for the water when we arrived, not a surprise since this daughter was a junior naturalist with the Seattle Aquarium when she was in high school. 

We've loved watching the water, digging around in the water, exploring the roads and paths, and finding sea anemones at low tide. This morning we watched herons and eagles and geese. Jack and I went on a discovery walk to observe markers at high tide that we can watch as the high tide ebbs out and more is exposed. We also discovered a road/path that is in the process of being graded. Jack called it a junk road because it's filled with roots and rocks and dirt, a perfect road for a three year old!

I can't be near the ocean without thinking about one of my favorite books, Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. I rarely read books again, but this a book I love to revisit. Someday, I would like to spend more than a few days near the ocean. I searched good reads for some favorite quotes. I'm limiting myself to sharing three of the quotes I found (only one is identified as coming from Gift from the Sea).

The idea of stilling and feeding the soul is my favorite theme from Lindbergh's book:
“The problem is not entirely in finding a room of one's own, the time alone, difficult and necessary as that is. The problem is more how to still the soul in the midst of its activities. In fact, the problem is how to feed the soul.”
― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift from the Sea

And this quote is new to me, but it's a new favorite for my writer's notebook:

“One writes not to be read but to breathe...one writes to think, to pray, to analyze. One writes to clear one's mind, to dissipate one's fears, to face one's doubts, to look at one's mistakes--in order to retrieve them. One writes to capture and crystallize one's joy, but also to disperse one's gloom. Like prayer--you go to it in sorrow more than joy, for help, a road back to 'grace'.”
― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, War Within & Without: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1939-1944 

 

And finally, this quote about why we need to share our writing. I'm so grateful for this writing group that provides warm sun for my writing efforts: 

“You can’t just write and write and put things in a drawer. They wither without the warm sun of someone else’s appreciation.”
― Anne Morrow Lindbergh

 

Three pictures from our brief pandemic getaway: