“Your life is made of two dates and a dash. Make the most of the dash.”
—Linda Ellis

I can hardly bring myself to write about our theme this month— #MamaBear. The phase of life I’m currently in puts me dead center of the sandwich generation. My mother is 91 years old, and I worry every day if it will be her last, even though she has no critical illness. I know she worries about it, too, because she calls me every night to say good night. This is a new habit. It’s because she’s thinking about that classic childhood prayer that ironically scares us all to death—‘if I should die before I wake…” I can’t blame her for thinking this way; we all have an expiration date. Luckily, so far, we are both still “in date.”

Sometimes life’s best mantras and philosophies
can be found on the backs of people’s automobiles in the form
of bumper stickers.

While I’m not a bumper sticker fan myself, that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading others’. I understand the art of the bumper sticker. Think about it, they can make perfect strangers laugh, think, relate, or become angered all in a small 10-by-3-inch ride-by. They are like baby billboards that enter your life for mere seconds and give you insight into exactly who you are dealing with next to you on the road. For instance, if you’re behind someone with a sticker that says “Keep Honking, I’m Reloading,” they’ve given you a hint that you may want to pipe down.

There are so many wonderful things about April—the weather, Easter, The Heritage, festivals, flowers and garden tours, but one of the best things is it’s Pink Magazine's birthday! Pink turned 18-years-old on April 1, and I am somewhat awe struck.

When I started Pink in a small room in my home, I never looked ahead five, ten or 18 years. I merely took it one day at a time, and most of those days wore me out. My children were young—kindergarten and fourth grade. I was in full wife and mom mode and had always had a career in sales or marketing. The new job of creating Pink was hard, especially since I started with limited resources: A used Mac and $2,800.

The Lowcountry is an outdoor paradise,
and it’s never more alive than spring.
Living here for many years, I have seen some amazing things
when it comes to animals in nature.

I witnessed dolphins in action not only strand feeding, but I actually saw them setting up their plan and interacting with each other. This is a learned practice indigenous to the Lowcountry salt marshes, and it’s something I will always be in awe of. Once, I walked close to five miles to where Fish Haul Creek splits the beach. My long walk bore a reward—a pair of bald eagles wading in the sea foam on the shore. I stood in amazement at their stature and power.

“‘Is the spring coming?’ he said. ‘What is it like…’
‘It is the sun shining on the rain
and the rain falling on the sunshine…’”
– Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden -

About this time of year, animals that are known to hibernate begin to emerge from their long winter naps. There is no given day for this occurence; it is based on rising temperatures and longer sunlight. It’s no coincidence that these two factors also arouse humans to emerge from the stale dimness of the indoors to meander out to sit on park benches, take long walks and look at the sky to gather the sun’s warmth.