Trip to the tide, good read inspires new rhythm of harmony

Voltaire said, “Let us read and let us dance — two amusements that will never do harm to the world.”

Since 1967, annual celebrations of International Literacy Day remind everyone of the critical importance of literacy. “Reading not only has tremendous power when it comes to fueling the development of all aspects of language ability, its importance to the entirety of a human life in this day and age really can’t be overstated.”

Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic recommend parents read with their children beginning as early as infancy and continuing through elementary school years.

Reading with your children or grandchildren builds warm and happy associations with books, increasing the likelihood that kids will find reading enjoyable in the future.

According to healthline.com, reading may have positive lifelong effects on both mental and physical well-being. These effects include but are not limited to: strengthening the brain, increasing empathy, building vocabulary, helping prevent age-related cognitive decline, aiding sleep, alleviating depression symptoms, reducing stress, and may help one live longer.

National Literacy Institute statistics from 2022-23 shows the impact on our nation:

• Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 130 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their children.

• 21 percent of adults in the U.S. are illiterate.

• 54 percent of adults have a literacy below a sixth-grade level.

• 45 million are functionally illiterate and read below a fifth-grade level.

• 44 percent of American adults do not read a book in a year.

Surf and sand are the backdrop for many photos showcasing picturesque beach scenes of five Seays. Although never filled with rest and relaxation, trips to the beach with my kids were a blast.

I enjoyed riding the waves and goofing off with my kids in the ocean. I was never one to sit in a chair all day working on a suntan. Besides, this fair skin of mine doesn’t do well with the scorching rays of the sunshine.

I was naive to think my kids would allow me to lounge on the sandy shoreline and read a book while my husband built sandcastles with them. Foolish selfish thinking, I know.

The priceless myriad responsibilities and distractions for me changed when I entered the post-parental stage. My beach memories are all mingled up with memories of who I was at the time and point in my life.

Although I don’t dance, I may have performed a few moves after each one of my children flew the coop. They don’t need to know that, right? Right.

I know moving out on their own is exactly what was supposed to happen. But suddenly my home became spacious and quiet. I asked myself, “What now?”

The foreign stage of life had me reeling in a sea of unsettled emotion, questioning whether I would thrive in newfound freedom.

I wasn’t sure I liked my new title, “empty nester.” Who came up with that anyway? I didn’t raise a house full of chickens!

I had to figure out how to navigate plenty of solitude in the next chapter of my life, how to do it well and how to be joyful about it.

Little did I know that God was nudging me forward and was working all things out for my greater good. Open to new opportunities, I began reading stories of how other moms navigated and prayed for a new perspective in the season.

Want to be inspired, or want to inspire? Go to the beach and read a book!

A trip to the tide on Sanibel and Captiva Island allowed this “empty-nester” time for lounging on the sandy shoreline and reading a good book I had read several times. In “Gift From The Sea,” published in 1955, author Anne Morrow Lindbergh writes about her two weeks, alone, on Captiva Island, Fla. She considers her personal need for balance in daily patterns of work and relationships and the ever-changing details of her life. Five different shells from the sea contribute to her gaining a better understanding of herself and others.

The channeled whelk shell is contrasted with its simplicity and the complicated nature of Anne’s own life and her need for simplicity and harmony. A snail shell resembles an island and the moon. Anne learns from moon shell that solitude is essential for reconnecting with oneself. She considers how simpler living may allow necessary room for acceptance of self and inner peace.

The double-sunrise shell is given to her by a stranger. It symbolizes the union of husband and wife and how the two are initially absorbed with each other’s company in the early years of their relationship. When the demands and responsibilities of children come into the picture, they seem to dilute the purity of the relationship.

The middle stages of marriage are symbolized by the oyster shell. In this stage of life, the bond between parent and child is formed. Eventually the children grow up and leave home and Anne is confronted with the question of what to do next.

The argonauta shell symbolizes a different relationship, where one leaves the shell and begins another chapter. “What golden fleece is there for the middle-aged?”

Many of us have special memories of books that have inspired us. Reading the right book at the right time has a profound effect. Reading books takes us back to the important moments in our own lives and sometimes transports us to new worlds and different times.

“The waves echo behind me. Patience, Faith, Openness, is what the sea has to teach.”

“One should lie empty, open, choiceless as the beach, waiting for a Gift From The Sea.”

The details of the life of Anne Lindbergh, author, daughter, mother, grandmother, friend, are awe-inspiring. She was a woman of faith, wisdom, and fortitude.

In many ways, I could identify with Anne’s struggles and questions regarding the different seasons of life. The few days I spent on the island reading her book inspired personal growth and the fulfillment of a new rhythm of harmony for my soul.

My life changes and deepens with each phase and although roles change, I still have potential and opportunity to invest in and impact lives — my husband, children, grandchildren, family, friends, others, for eternity.

“Bloom,” originally launched in 2019 as a Bible study for women in the field of parenting, is now a column where I write about my faith in Christ, marriage, parenting, grand-parenting, life experiences, adventures. Biblical insight, analogies, metaphors, and quotes are used to hopefully convey a valuable message to the reader.

I am grateful that Anne Adams allows me space in The Recorder to write.

Cultivate your own garden and bloom where you are planted!