gifts

On Christmas Day back in 2003, my mother gave me two special gifts.  One was a Waterford crystal jar, the other the small book, Gift from the Sea, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

In the wee hours following Christmas night, I placed the jar on my glass desk, sat down, and in the quiet, read the entire book. 

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Whether you have known the beach, had a marriage or not, had children or none, there's "so much in this little book," as my insightful mother inscribed. 

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I have shells collected from years past, which I look at with wiser eyes now. 

And the crystal jar...  it has and will always remain empty, reminding me that less is more.