Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Date:   1/7/2009 3:23:29 PM ( 15 y ago)

Catriva Island:

http://www.readthespirit.com/explore/2008/06/183-from-one-li.html


First published in 1955, this slim little book spoke volumes to women on the brink of social change -– women who were primarily responsible for raising families and conflicted by the "new career opportunities" opening up to them. Using seashells to describe the various stages of a woman's life, from early marriage to the empty nest, Mrs. Lindbergh gave voice to the ache of the feminine spirit.
Years ahead of its time, "Gift from the Sea" became a classic among inspirational best-sellers, yet its success always baffled its author. "The original astonishment remains … that a book of essays, written to work out my own problems, should have spoken to so many other women," Mrs. Lindbergh admitted twenty years later.

A thoughtful friend suggested the book when I was in my early thirties -- when everything in my small universe was spinning faster than I could keep up. I was raising a preschooler. Working as a travel magazine editor and community activist. Learning how to be a wife. And all the while attempting to make a home out of a 1940s handyman special. As much as I'd welcomed so many options and opportunities, I was always too exhausted to understand why I felt something was missing.
Mrs. Lindbergh knew how to explain my dilemma.
"There are so few empty pages in my engagement calendar," she wrote. "Too many worthy activities, valuable things, and interesting people. For it is not merely the trivial which clutters our lives but the important as well. We can have a surfeit of treasures –- an excess of shells, where one or two would be significant."
Reading those words again nearly 20 years later, I recall the tremendous sense of relief -- the real epiphany -- that struck when I first read them. Like most young mothers I knew, I wanted to have it all, but didn't realize the price I'd pay until I actually got it all. It's not that I was ungrateful for the life I'd crafted. I loved my husband, my child, my home, my writing career.
But I desperately needed balance. Spiritual balance.

Until then, I'd assumed the contemplative life was the sole province of nuns, monks, or religious hermits. Thanks to Mrs. Lindbergh, I learned that finding time to feed my spirit was a necessity, not a luxury. And it wasn't simply a matter of reordering my priorities in a day planner. I had to teach myself how to be still in the midst of suburban chaos -- if only for a few moments between meeting deadlines and driving my carpool shift.
As Mrs. Lindbergh wrote, my real challenge was "how to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life. ... It is the spirit of woman that is going dry, not the mechanics that are wanting; certainly our lives are easier, freer, more open to opportunities. But these hard-won prizes are insufficient because we have not yet learned how to use them."

On Captiva Island, I had time to revisit these issues from a different perspective. Even now, settled in midlife, I tend to overbook myself with work or social obligations. I often neglect the call of my inner spirit, and make the mistake of confusing my self-worth with my achievements. I need to be reminded, all over again, to slow down long enough to savor what I have.
Fifty years after "Gift from the Sea" was published, women are still overwhelmed by the banquet of choices available to us. Anne Morrow Lindbergh asserted that we must be the "pioneers" in the movement toward re-creating lives of grace and harmony.
I'm grateful to her for illuminating the trail ahead of us, and for her "Gift from the Sea."

http://www.charleslindbergh.com/press/

http://mack.house.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=14thDistrict.About14thDistrict

The Tamiami Trail, a 273-mile stretch of road that connects Tampa to Miami, was built at the turn of the twentieth century. It took 13 years and over 2.5 million sticks of dynamite to complete.

Fort Myers was built along the Caloosahatchee River as one of the first bases of operations during the Seminole Indian Wars. It is named in honor of Colonel Abraham C. Myers, the son-in-law of the commander of Fort Brooke in Tampa.

Fort Myers was the location of the winter homes of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Charles Lindburgh, Harvey Firestone, and Dr. Alexis Carrel, a Nobel Prize-winning surgeon and biologist.

According to folk lore, Captiva Island got its name because a pirate captain named Jose Gaspar held his female prisoners on the island for ransom.

Fort Myers is the spring training locale for the Boston Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins.

Every baseball team that has used Fort Myers as a spring training home has won the World Series while training there. This includes the 1929 and 1930 Philadelphia A's, 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, the 1985 Kansas City Royals, the 1987 and 1991 Minnesota Twins, and the Boston Red Sox in 2004 and 2007 (source: News-Press).

FAMOUS 14th DISTRICT RESIDENTS:

Many famous novelists, artists, actors, singers, athletes and historical figures currently call, or have called, the 14th Congressional District home:

Larry Bird, former NBA basketball player, Naples

Bert Blyleven, former pitcher for the Minnesota Twins, Fort Myers

Michael Collins, astronaut on the Apollo 11 and Gemini 10, Marco Island

Robin Cook, author, Naples

J.N. "Ding" Darling, syndicated editorial cartoonist and conservationist, Captiva Island

Mike Ditka, former football coach, Naples

Clifton Fadiman, author, critic and moderator of the radio hit "Information Please," Sanibel Island

Helen Ketteman, children's author, Sanibel Island

Robert Ludlum, author, Naples

Mindy McCready, country music artist, Fort Myers

Robert Rauschenberg, artist, Captiva Island

Deion Sanders, former professional football player, Fort Myers

Judge Judith Sheindlin ("Judge Judy"), television judge, Naples

Dave Wannsteadt, former coach of the Miami Dolphins, Naples

Randy Wayne White, author, Pine Island






 

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