a letter from the editor

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall” —F. Scott Fitzgerald

Growing up in West Virginia, we had four distinct seasons: A cold snowy winter, allergies, er, I mean flowers and rain in the spring, hot summers, and my favorite, a cool and crisp fall. The leaves are changing, pumpkins are out, Halloween, bonfires, football, sweatshirts and blankets.

The first time I moved to the south in April of 2013 I left West Virginia and it was 32 degrees with snow on the ground. I arrived in Jackson Mississippi it truly felt like spring more pollen than I had ever seen in my entire life! Summer that year was hot, a hot that I didn’t know existed and I was introduced to real humidity.

So imagine my next surprise when mid-September rolls around I have a hot pumpkin coffee, a flannel jacket and jeans on and it’s still 80 degrees. Then October came, and Halloween and I remember thinking how frustrating it was for me as a kid who had to wear a jacket over my costume because it was so cold in West Virginia during that time. Superheroes didn’t wear a jacket! But in the south, it felt very much like summer to me, in fact, it didn’t feel like fall until late November or early December.

Logically, I thought maybe winter won’t be so bad. I remember it being cold for two weeks in January and one tiny flake of snow falling from the sky and my husband says, “How was your first southern winter?” “Magical”, I said, “I could get used to this.”

By early February it felt like spring and not only was I used to a new set of seasons, but I truly loved it. I had never experienced a winter without brutal cold and snow.

In hindsight, I feel like that was my training ground, so when the time came and I moved to Beaufort, it wasn’t such a surprise how different the seasons are. I knew what to expect and I could not wait!

Extended warm weather and more time outside. While all my friends back home are talking about how cold it is outside, I share that it’s so nice we have all the windows open.

Plus, I can still enjoy my pumpkin coffee, only now it’s iced and I’m sipping it on the beach. Aw. Much better!