In this inimitable beloved classicgraceful lucid and lyricalAnne Morrow Lindbergh shares her meditations on youth and age love and marriage peace solitude and contentment as she set them down during a brief vacation by the sea. Drawing inspiration from the shells on the shore Lindberghs musings on the shape of a womans life bring new understanding to both men and women at any stage of life. A mother of five an acclaimed writer and a pioneering aviator Lindbergh casts an unsentimental eye on the trappings of modernity that threaten to overwhelm us the timesaving gadgets that complicate rather than simplify the multiple commitments that take us from our families. And by recording her thoughts during a brief escape from everyday demands she helps readers find a space for contemplation and creativity within their own lives. With great wisdom and insight Lindbergh describes the shifting shapes of relationships and marriage presenting a vision of life as it is lived in an enduring and evolving partnership. A groundbreaking bestselling work when it was originally published in 1955 Gift from the Sea continues to be discovered by new generations of readers. With a new introduction by Lindberghs daughter Reeve this fiftiethanniversary edition will give those who are revisiting the book and those who are coming upon it for the first time fresh insight into the life of this remarkable woman. The sea and the beach are elements that have been woven throughout Anne Morrow Lindberghs life. She spent her childhood summers with her family on a Maine island. After her marriage to Charles Lindbergh in 1929 she accompanied him on his survey flights around the North Atlantic to launch the first transoceanic airlines. The Lindberghs eventually established a permanent home on the Connecticut coast where they lived quietly wrote books and raised their family. After the children left home for lives of their own the Lindberghs traveled extensively to Africa and the Pacific for environmental r