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Sea Gifts

June 16, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner 8 Comments

Sea GiftsThe best part of my recent book tour through Florida had very little to do with my book tour through Florida. It was more about the people I met, the sightsย I saw, the food I tasted, the things I felt and learned.ย Time passedย at a leisurely pace, my mind felt open and boundless. Sea gifts. A good thing.

The first time I saw the seaย I was young and we were in Mexico, on the Pacific side, and Iย found sand dollars and brought them home. I’ve never forgotten those earlyย impressionsโ€”the vastness of the ocean, the salty breeze, palm trees and sandy dunes. The seashoreย was a place of myths, miracles, history, science, the unexplained and remarkable.

A place for thinking.
A place for not thinking at all.

When I was a kidย if my teacher gave me a crayon and a blank piece of paper, I drew rough, basic, go-to pictures. The sunโ€”a bright yellow circle with rays in all directions; a house,ย two-story with square windows like eyes and smoke curling from the chimney; a tree, usually Christmas tree-shaped but sometimes more freeform; a flower, alwaysย a daisy, he loves me, he loves me not; and the sea…with pointy, aqua-marine waves, seagullsย above, fish below.

I probably drew the sea more often than not.

I’m home now, hundreds of miles from the ocean, yet I carry gifts from the sea with me. My suitcase overflows with clothes still scentedย with the smell of salty air. Aย sugary layer of sand fills the floorboard of my car. Sand that gets everywhere. Sand that I’m not in a rush to vacuum.

Shells hang from a string around my neck.

gifts from the sea

I feel relaxed and refreshed.

I wonder if my footprints are still on the beach, or if the tide has already washed them away.

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Sea Gifts: I wonder if my footprints are still on the beach? @VISITFLORIDA #LagunaBeach #LoveFL [/tweetthis]

โ€œI find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious. Life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before.โ€ Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Musical Pairing:
Sea of Love – Honeydrippers

Filed Under: Simple Pleasures, Travel Tagged With: Florida, Traveling Solo, Visit Florida

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Comments

  1. Colene says

    June 16, 2016 at 9:03 am

    Sounds like you made the most of your trip, including some needed and deserved down time.

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      June 16, 2016 at 9:38 am

      It was a great escape.

      Reply
  2. Ken johnson says

    June 16, 2016 at 11:11 am

    Talya, you make me so jealous of your asventures you describe inn your grace, grits, and gardening. Keep having fun and allow us to follow along with you cousin.

    Reply
  3. Barbara Tate says

    June 16, 2016 at 2:54 pm

    What a great adventure! Glad you got some down time.

    Reply
  4. Dorothy Johnson says

    June 17, 2016 at 9:52 am

    I’m so glad you had that time on the beach. You must go with me someday.

    Reply
  5. Crescent Dragonwagon says

    June 21, 2016 at 6:41 am

    I love the way you used the present to traverse the past, and tie it (gracefully) to your book… I too agree, deeply, that “the seashore was a place of myths.”

    Do you know Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s Gifts from the Sea? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxbXbj3xunA ore Charlotte Zolotow’s Seashore Book? https://www.amazon.com/Seashore-Book-Charlotte-Zolotow/dp/0064433641

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      June 21, 2016 at 7:26 am

      Yes, I love Gifts from the Sea. Thanks Crescent.

      Reply
  6. Emmy says

    December 2, 2016 at 3:39 am

    To think, I was cousefnd a minute ago.

    Reply

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Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

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