A Gift From the Sea

"There are other beaches to explore, there are more shells to find. This is only the beginning." Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Anne Morrow Lindbergh was an author, poet and wife of famed aviator pioneer, Charles Lindbergh. She was vaulted into celebrity by her marriage, and was not comfortable being in the spotlight - even before the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the couple's first child. The frenzied attention from the press caused the couple to first move to England, and later to the small island of Illiec, off the coast of Brittany in France. They later moved to Hawaii, where Charles died in 1974. Anne wrote her book, "Gift From the Sea," in 1955 while on vacation on Captiva Island, Florida. The book is written in essay style and touches on youth and age; love and marriage; peace, solitude and contentment. The slim volume became a best seller and has sold over 3 million copies and has been translated into 45 languages. Anne moved to a cottage built on her daughter's Vermont farm in the late 1990s. She died in 2001 at the age of 94.

"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach — waiting for a gift from the sea." AML