In Anticipation of the Sea

A week from today, I'll be in the sea town of Nags Head, North Carolina as part of a Squam Art Workshops gathering. This short trip is to celebrate my mother's 65th birthday. While I'm there, I'm going to take a watercolor class - be still my heart! And I'll be taking a class named after Ann Morrow Lindbergh's book, Gifts From the Sea. I've been looking forward to it for a whole year and now, it's only a week away.

I want first of all - in fact, as an end to these other desires - to be at peace with myself. I want a singleness of eye, a purity of intention, a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities as well as I can. I want, in fact - to borrow from the language of the saints -to live 'in grace' as much of the time as possible. I am not using this term in a strictly theological sense. By grace I mean an inner harmony, essentially spiritual, which can be translated into outward harmony. . . 

 ― Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gifts from the Sea

All photos by Amy Gretchen