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A Purposeful Life
This editor’s letter appears in the March 2022 issue of Lake Norman CURRENTS. In early January, the community of Lake Norman learned of the passing of Tom Clark, a Davidson College professor who eventually found his life’s calling working in sculpture. While planning an article on his work, we put a call out on our social media pages asking if anyone had a collection of the miniature gnomes he grew so famous for creating. We were overwhelmed by the responses of so many people, not only of those who still have his gnome sculptures in their homes but also those who had a personal connection to Clark or a memory of what his…
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Get Refreshed
This letter originally appeared in the April 2021 issue of Lake Norman CURRENTS. When I was twelve, I moved from Central Texas to the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, where I spent much of my time outdoors, hiking on nearby trails, taking long drives on the parkway with my parents, eating berries straight off the bushes the bloomed in our yard and playing in the icy rivers. I’ve come to realize nature has always been a big part of my life, even if I consider myself a homebody who probably spends too much time indoors reading, working or simply trying to cover off all the household chores. It’s hard to…
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Living in a College Town
This letter originally appeared in the March 2021 issue of Lake Norman CURRENTS. The other day I was sitting at my desk when a realization hit me like a ton of bricks. My oldest child is registering for classes for her senior year of high school. My time with her is limited. I started to panic. How can she almost be 18 years old? Where did those years go? Did I spend too much time stressing over working and how to pay the bills each month and not enough time helping her prepare for life after high school? As a parent, it’s hard to know the right answers to these questions. I can…
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Love Thy Neighbor
This letter originally appeared in the February issue of Lake Norman CURRENTS. There are many different ways to show love. While we all know Feb. 14 is a boon for the chocolate and greeting card industry, I had another revelation come to me as I’ve worked on putting together this issue. It’s been almost a year since a global pandemic affected almost every aspect of our lives, from our job security, our health and wellness, our children’s education, to our eating and shopping habits, travel plans, etc. The list goes on and on. But through it all, we’ve had to keep moving, to continue putting one foot in front of another even though…
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Wrapped Up with a Bow
This letter originally appeared in the December edition of Lake Norman CURRENTS. This time of year always brings back a rush of memories from when I worked in the retail industry in my teens and early 20s and the oh-so valuable life lessons I learned. My first memory that stands out is my time working at Belk Department Store. Now, if you’re a woman and you’ve never worked at Belk or shopped there, you can’t really consider yourself southern, in my opinion. When I was in high school, our local store at The Asheville Mall interviewed a number of teenagers from the surrounding high schools and then selected a handful of us to…
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Talking Turkey
This letter originally appeared in the November 2020 issue of Lake Norman CURRENTS. I have a confession to make. I’ve never cooked an entire holiday meal all by myself. I wonder if this is a predicament a lot of women my age are in—they spend years either partially hosting a Thanksgiving gathering or traveling to another family member’s house while never being fully in charge of the preparation and planning until the baton gets passed, so to speak. My childhood memories of the holiday include running around my grandmother’s house with my cousins while the fragrant smells from the kitchen began to waft through the air. I might have taken a break from…
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The Not-So-Secret Life of Pets
I don’t like to think about what my life would be like without my pets. I’ve had a dog for as long as I can remember, and most of them have been pretty small. I guess as a petite person myself I’m hesitant to get a pet that could potentially be taller than me while standing on hind legs. My husband and I started out with a small chihuahua I brought into the marriage, and while I’m sure Daniel was hesitant about Odie at first (we all know the bad rap chis can get) he eventually grew to love that boy. When Odie passed away after a long life in 2010, we swore…
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Thoughts from Me During This Crazy Time of Year
The following is my editor’s letter from the December 2019 issue of Lake Norman CURRENTS, the magazine I work for, and I wanted to share with you all here. ‘Tis the Season!