The Seaside Library, A Remembrance

true story

During a chiropractic visit in November, I had one of those experiences that I call signs or whispers from God. The chiropractor my husband and I go to every month for alignments is one who practices Directional Non-force technique (DNFT) that a very small percentage of chiropractors use. There is no cracking of bones or pressure involved, yet the service renders suppleness and well-being that almost seems magical.

Our appointments in November followed the death of one of our closest friends. I left the doctor’s office that day to use the hallway bathroom in this beautiful building - Rosemont Plaza near Villanova University, Pennsylvania. I wandered down the long hallway and into the lobby area where the ladies’ room was situated. When I left the facility, I heard a voice within me to walk in the opposite direction and make a turn down another hallway. It felt like a calling that brought me to the bookcase. It was one of those book exchanges - take a book and leave a book. I perused the titles, and I stopped when I read “The Seaside Library.” I pulled the book off the shelf and the cover was endearing to me. The blue ocean, the pure sandy beach, and the woman with her sun hat reading an open book. In that moment, I remembered my favorite library at Margate beach on the South Jersey shore. The small library is set near the sand dunes next to the pristine beach that we frequent every summer. During the summer I borrow novels that are recommended by the staff. I am never disappointed by their suggestions.

I took the book home with me and read it immediately. The library on Mariner’s Island was one of the main locations in the novel and how it was saved by a young woman who wanted to protect it. I didn’t find a direct meaning for me in the novel, but I realized it was a sign for me to continue to borrow books in the summer to read on the Margate beach even though my friend died. See, she and her husband met us on that beach for years and I would tell her the stories that I read. Last summer she decided to read “All the Broken Pieces” by John Boyne, author of the “Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” but she was unable to read it since she didn’t recover from an illness that plagued her with pain and suffering soon after our summer retreat.

I remember how she feared an operation she was set to have and how I texted her to meditate on God’s beauty that we loved - the white foam of the waves hitting the shore, the sound of the seagulls flying above, the intoxicating fragrance of the sea air, the feel of the soft sand under her feet, and the long gaze reaching the horizon. She wrote back that she would think of this to lessen the fear she felt.

Our friend was a survivor who fought many illnesses and recovered from many surgeries over the course of her lifetime, but this time it was too hard for her. She was a great supporter of people and even when she was suffering, she commented on a recent Substack of mine. Not one for social media or listening to podcasts, she made sure to learn how to use Substack through her daughter’s guidance. I who lost my mother when I was a teenager felt that this was a maternal gesture that she bestowed upon me.

I was lost in grief and I couldn’t imagine going back to the shore without her but that voice within me led me to the bookcase where I found “The Seaside Library.” I knew God was giving me a message. I will make it a testament to the memory of our friend that I will visit my seaside library and continue to read stories on the beach that she so well loved.

In memory of Nancy Ochuida, a great friend. May your spirit rest in the beauty of God’s eternal life.