Friday, June 22, 2018

Ocean


“The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too impatient. To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed, but lack of faith. Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches. Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a beach—waiting for a gift from the sea.” 

I did not see the ocean until I was sixteen. My brother and sister-in-law took me to the Oregon coast while they were in college there. I was deeply moved. Tears ran down my face as we drove inland. Another sixteen years passed while I was living in the desert. Then we got a job offer to come to Seattle. Now I was closer to the water and intentionally I took my children to the beach so that they would know a connection to the water. On warm summer days nothing calmed them more than playing at the beach. Their squabbling stopped and there was calm inside their squirrelly bodies.



A few years later we moved to an island in the middle of the Puget Sound. Now I saw water everyday as I drove on my errands. I learned that the biggest art project is the sunrise over the water. When God takes up his paints, his palette is the most varied, refined and spectacular. But you have to wait for it. Wait for it........


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There is still time to read my novel about a pianist and teacher who finds a Liszt autograph manuscript and ends up dead. Who killed her to get the treasure? The mysterious student who comes from out of town to study with her? The colleague from Hungary who wants the manuscript more than anything? 


My novel Rubato

A story of a woman's longing for beauty and her struggle to keep the beautiful even when it didn't belong to her.






3 comments:

  1. I enjoyed reading about your personal experience with seeing the ocean!

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  2. YES, YES, YES! I too saw it for the first time, when I was 16. Heceta Head Lighthouse (spelling) near Florence Oregon. I cried, felt like I was me for the very first time. The life of ache and wanting just went right away... Love your words!

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