A Year By The Sea

Today I finished reading a true life story, A Year By the Sea by Joan Anderson. The story follows Joan during her year alone at her family's cottage on Cape Cod. This is the place she retreated to, when she chose not to accompany her husband after he accepted a new job out-of-state. It was here that she hoped to put the pieces of herself back together, pieces that she felt she had set aside while raising a family, maintaining a home and keeping her marriage alive.

Feeling frustrated and stagnant, Joan sees this year as an opportunity to re-evaluate and re-invigorate her own life! How many of us would like to be able to do just that.

The book is broken down into monthly accounts of Joan’s happenings, observations, and rejuvenations. She attempts new types of work and forces herself to go into unfamiliar social situations, all of which turn out to be very powerful growth experiences. She rediscovers herself as a capable and a can-do woman. The few visits that she shares with her husband and sons highlight the changes that she is going through; they are willing to now see her as someone who is taking risks and as a woman who has regained her own self image.

Those of you to know me well, know that I always read the last chapter of the book…….just because! So if you don’t want to know the ending…….stop reading! In the end, Joan and her husband find a place to start again: "We have endured, it would seem. A year ago in anger and despair I would have eagerly reached for divorce. But lethargy and exhaustion prevailed. Separation and solitude have healed us. It wasn't the marriage that needed to be terminated, rather the rote way in which we were existing within its walls."

I loved the story and can’t wait to start the next book as soon as it is delivered! What I really liked about the book wasn't her day to day existence but, her thoughts on life that are scatter throughout the book. This is a book which I have marked and tagged the margins and highlighted all those really great thoughts!

Until the next book arrives I will enjoy my hot tub….the closest I’ll get to a beach….my sea shell and star fish…….and half of this glass of grape juice!