My first remembered icon was a heavenly one indeed. It is so important to me that though I have written about it before, I cannot leave it out here. I was a very small child visiting my grandmother at her beach cottage in north Florida. One night someone came into my little room, untucked the mosquito netting from around my crib, and carried me out onto the beach to see the stars. It must have been an unusually beautiful night for someone to have said, “Let’s wake up the baby and show her the stars.”
All I remember is glory.
There were no nearby city lights on the horizon to dim the magnificence of the night. The stars patterned the sky with their heavenly dance. The wind was quiet, and the ocean rolled gently to the shore. The little waves lapped the sand, and the lacy froth picked up the starlight. It was my first glimpse of night, of the world that was far larger and more magnificent than the ordinary daily world of the small child. I have never forgotten that moment of glory.