It’s the end of June on the Delmarva and the increasing week-end traffic heading east from Annapolis and further points west testifies to the call the sea and the beach have on us. Why is it that we flock to the beach or at least to the water’s edge each summer? Perhaps, and we can only speculate here, the pull of the sea is actually a call to return to the place of our beginnings. After all, we are created in water, a private sea in which we live and grow for nine months, give or take, and our bodies are between 70 to 60 percent water depending on our age. In addition, the mineral composition of the water in our cells is basically that of the sea.
Is it any wonder then, that being by the sea, playing in it, smelling it, feeling its caress, brings us comfort, and a degree of peace. In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway thought of the sea as feminine “as something that gave and withheld great favors,…” Like a great mother, in her way, the sea has released us but her call to return remains ever strong.
Wilson’s guests this month on Delmarva Today: Writer’s Edition are Nancy Sakaduski and Nancy Powichroski Sherman. The focus of the program is on Sherman’s latest book More Sandy Shorts, a compilation of short stories that explore and celebrate our desire to be next to the sea.
Nancy Sakaduski is the founder of Cat & Mouse Press, the publisher of More Sandy Shorts. The purpose of Cat & Mouse Press is to support local writers and create “playful” books with a connection to the Delaware shore.
Nancy Sherman is an accomplished short story writer. Her first collection of stories, Sandy Shorts, was awarded a regional first place by Delaware Press Association and national first place by the National Federation of Press Women (2015). Her stories have also been published in several anthologies: The Beach House, Beach Love, and Beach Pulp.
