A good relationship has a pattern like a dance and is built on some of the same rules. The partners do not need to hold on tightly, because they move confidently in the same pattern, intricate but gay and swift and free, like a country dance of Mozart’s. To touch heavily would be to arrest the pattern and freeze the movement, to check the endlessly changing beauty of its unfolding. There is no place here for the possessive clutch, the clinging arm, the heavy hand; only the barest touch in passing. Now arm in arm, now face to face, now back to back—it does not matter which. Because they know they are partners moving to the same rhythm, creating a pattern together, and being invisibly nourished by it.
The joy of such a pattern is not only the joy of creation or the joy of participation, it is also the joy of living in the moment. Lightness of touch and living in the moment are intertwined. One cannot dance well unless one is completely in time with the music, not leaning back to the last step or pressing forward to the next one, but poised directly on the present step as it comes. Perfect poise on the beat is what gives good dancing its sense of ease, of timelessness, of the eternal.
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Cleo...I was trying to find a quote last night when I ran across a couple sites that claim Charles had seven children in Europe, by
three women. One site claimed his relationships with these women began after Anne's affair with her doctor. Charles Lindbergh's interest in eugenics leaves a bad taste in my mouth...once read an article that quoted him describing AML coming from good genetic stock which was a strong influence in his selecting her. In the end I guess they both were merely mortals after all...but what an incredibly wise and beautiful soul Anne Morrow Lindbergh is.
Oh, I never heard about Anne's affair, seems difficult to believe but I'm biased. She appeared to be so exquisitly sensitive and kind. The death of her baby must have devastated her for the duration, poor soul, not just the baby being killed but what she went through when he was taken from his crib.
Charles had a sick interest in Eugenics and he was in agreement with what was going on in Germany, at the time he was one very hot supporter of Germany.
Yes, you're right, they were merely mortals, though I feel more inclined to pity and understand her than him. Only one thing he said remains with me "The more you have the more you've to worry about", I don't know if he lived by this maxim or not, but it's a good idea to contemplate and implement.
Cont. in her book "Hour of lead, hour of gold" she writes about their courtship and she appears to feel so amazed at his having chosen her. She was in awe of him and he could have just married anyone as his popularity at the time and good looks made him very appealing to the ladies. Now it makes sense that he 'selected' her for her breeding, family status (dad was an ambassador) etc. rather than for her alone.
I used this poem at my wedding and had people aske me for it down the road when they married. Oh I would say the first several years are the fiery love years and then the battle is not to stay in love but be in like and enjoyment of each other such as you were on your wedding day. AML was sensitive indeed but I personaly read thru her works and see she knew what her husband was doing and the love still knew no bounds,who knows maybe she was a woman before her time or just wasn't bothered by what 80 percent of men do. Having a "secret" family now thats a huge betrayal for sure. I bet like you said grief makes one do crazy things. Most people who lose a child end up divorcing anyway.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh is a heroine: a gifted writer who always seemed to have maintained her perceptiveness. So many of us do whatever we can to try to turn it off. Living with Charles Lindbergh would mean that she probably got discounted by him; her feekings and wants could have been "women's stuff" to him. Having an affair would not be right, but more than likely to her lover she would have been real. How well did she and Charles know each other, or how much about each other, anyway? Mr. Lindbergh seems to have compartimentalized his whole life- including his marriage to Anne Morrow.
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