Imagine if you could be happy every day, unaffected by the world’s problems and absorbed in the simple joys of creativity and friendship, spreading light and smiles to everyone who crossed your path. Now imagine being stuck at home with nothing to do, no one to talk to, and no sense of purpose in your life. The contrast between these two possibilities is as stark as sunshine and darkness.

In this dual reality faced by adults with intellectual and physical disabilities, the second scenario is all too common. But it’s also the reason for the first scenario, created by a trio of big-hearted women who have made the sun shine on a lot of very special people.

In 2005, Hilton Head Island was introduced to a new kind of play for children. The Sandbox, a non-profit, interactive children’s museum, opened its doors, welcoming in all local and visiting children to come learn while having a whole lot of fun.

Now, The Sandbox has been disguising learning as fun for more than 16 years with each child offered a choice of activities and space while playing at the museum. With so many interactive and hands-on activities, kids are guaranteed to have the best time. And, they all leave with pieces of wisdom they didn't come in with. But children are not the only ones who enjoy the museum. Parents are often wowed by the positive stimulation the museum provides in the form of playing and they maybe even learn something themselves.

Here are 10 small ways to volunteer and
make a difference this Earth Day:

1. Clean up a local beach.
Over 14 billion pounds of trash are dumped into the ocean each year. Help clean it up.

2. Plant a garden at your home or school.
Another fun way to give Mother Earth some love this Earth Day!

Fun, infectious cheer delightfully mixed with
enlivening fresh air as you frolic among the oaks...
did that just describe your last visit for groceries? It did mine!

Nestled in the center of Port Royal, outside the Naval Hospital, you’ll find beautiful Naval Heritage Park. Its oak-filled space and tranquility is inviting throughout the week, but come Saturday morning, the park takes on a complete transformation. It’s a weekly event you don’t want to miss—The Port Royal Farmer’s Market. Stocked with vendors (but safely spread out for social distancing), you’ll find tables laden with beautiful fruits and vegetables, homemade baked goods and steaming fresh food. And best of all, whether they’re beaming with pride, or buyers excited to purchase healthful and homemade goods, you’ll find passion-filled people.

Our beaches are world-class destinations for tourists, and our communities are growing like mushrooms as more and more people relocate here for the quality of life. It’s the beauty and wonder of our ecosystems that draw us all to the Lowcountry. Kayaking, fishing, paddle boarding, the beach and nature walks allow us to learn and appreciate the magical, yet fragile world around us—and we certainly enjoy the fresh, local oysters and shrimp.

It’s the mission of The Outdoor Foundation, a local nonprofit organization, to preserve and protect our local environment and to get kids outside to help them become aware of the importance of maintaining a healthy environment by showing them how to protect and preserve—and enjoy— our coastal ecosystem. 

What are your financial goals? This is the first thing any financial planner should know about you. Many may think everyone’s goal is to make the most money possible, but surprisingly it’s not. People have different priorities in how they want their assets protected and their nest egg to grow. Some want to ensure they can have the same lifestyle in retirement as they did during their working years. Some want to see their assets create a legacy and last for generations to come. Others want to ensure their grandchildren have higher education opportunities. And then there are those—lots of those—who just don’t want to lose any money. Everyone’s situation is different, and a financial planner who listens, understands the difference, and plans accordingly.

Most of us are happy to bid last year farewell. 2020 will live in infamy for years to come, and will go down as the year that COVID-19 considerably changed our lives and the way we conduct business, if we have been able to conduct business at all. Well, the insurance industry is no different. We have not only felt affects of COVID-19, but we have also had the worst year in history of tropical storms and hurricanes. There were 30 named storms, of which 12 made landfall in the U.S.

The new year has begun, and with it comes many people who have made buying or selling a home part of their 2021 resolutions. While ongoing unemployment claims remain elevated due to COVID-19, they are substantially lower than what they were during their peak and have had little effect on buyer demand thus far. For the 12-month period spanning February 2020 through January 2021, pending sales in the Hilton Head region were up 35.9 percent overall. The price range with the largest gain in sales was the $650,001 and above range, where they increased 98.6 percent.

Securing a mortgage is what stands between you and buying the house
you want to call home. It’s not uncommon for people to be frightened of the mortgage process, but don’t let that deter you from homeownership.

Often first-time potential homeowners think qualifying for a mortgage is unattainable because it seems like some sort of big mystery, impossible to understand, or just too much to deal with. While the process can be complicated, an experienced mortgage lender can break it all down for you and get you to move-in day.

There is no question that the real estate market bounced back in an unsurpassed way after COVID-19 first took hold last spring. The result led to demand far outpacing supply. Bidding wars were commonplace, and we closed multiple transactions without the buyers ever having set foot in the property until after it closed. None of us could have anticipated that this would be a part of the real estate narrative for 2020. 

Dear Carrie: My daughter is starting high school this year, and I'm worried about paying for college. I've saved some money, but as a single mom, I'm afraid I just won't be able to cover it all. Is there anything I can do to increase her chances of receiving financial aid? —A Reader

Dear Reader: I'm glad you're asking this question now while you still have several years to plan for college. As I'm sure you know, college can be expensive, but it's also one of the best investments you can make in your daughter's future—not only in terms of education but also for her career opportunities and lifetime earnings.

Spring is a great time to get away from it all and take a giant deep breath. You can slip into escape mode the fast way with multiple margaritas, or you can slow down and figure out a plan to get back to nature, into the woods, on a lake, up a mountain, down a river—paddling, hiking, camping, fishing, walking, breathing, whatever suits your soul.

Your fitness goal? Renewal of the spirit. Your health will benefit greatly from a sharper focus and a serene attitude. That’s what a few days or weeks in the backcountry can do for you.
Here are some tips to help you plan and enjoy a hiking trip, especially if it’s your first:

The human brain is such a miraculous organ, even it cannot imagine or utilize its full potential. Like a computer, if the brain is programmed the right way, it can make us function properly. If programmed wrong, life can become overwhelming, stressful or dark. The good news is most of the time we get a choice in how to program our brains—negative or positive.

With all the uncertainty happening in the world right now, it has become increasingly easy to negatively program our brains, which guides our thoughts and emotions. “When people flood their brains with fear-based images, interactions and information, their anxiety levels increase,” said Debbie Anderson, Community Education Director at Memory Matters on Hilton Head Island.

Welcome to 2021, the era of searching for love in a pandemic that seems endless. In this younger generation—20-somethings—we are dependent on our smartphones to connect us to the dating world. Why can’t we have the luxury like generations before us when social media was absent from the love equation and dating apps were nonexistent? An equation should be immutable, so my question is, “Why are things so different?” The answer points directly to dating apps and social media and how they have affected this generation's perspective on the way to find love...and how to behave in the process.

“I could not live without Champagne.
In victory I deserve it, in defeat I need it.” —Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill was a fan of champagne, and this quote of his is on point for 2021, thus far. Really, it applies to just life in general. A glass of bubbles always lends itself to lightening things up. In raising a glass to more good times than bad ahead, here are six scrumptious, sparkling selections in every price point to celebrate victories, soothe defeats and calm your nerves in between. These selections are also perfect for adding a pop of magic to your Valentine’s (or Galentine’s) Day celebrations.

2021 is a very special year. It marks the 60th anniversary of WAHHI, the Women’s Association of Hilton Head Island. It was first organized in January 1961 as the Hilton Head Garden Club by 23 forward-thinking women with a mission to beautify the island. Their first projects were planting azaleas around Coligny Circle, followed by a cleanup of the historic Zion Cemetery on Route 278. As the projects grew, more women joined, and in 1965, the name was changed to WAHHI.

Since then, the membership and boundaries have expanded to include greater Bluffton and Daufuskie Island. The organization has grown into a community of almost 600 multi-generational women with diverse backgrounds and talents. WAHHI’s goals are to promote the natural and cultural beauty of the Lowcountry, to encourage projects which benefit the community and to facili-tate communication among the women of the island.

According to a popular meme, the first rule of 2021 is to never talk about 2020.

Enticing proposal. However, we probably shouldn’t listen to a riff off of Brad Pitt’s line in Fight Club, especially since 2020 gave us a lot of material for making drastic changes. Maybe, instead, we could structure our 2021 game plan according to another classic 1999 film: The Matrix. Rather than trying to forget the past (as the meme jokingly suggests), we choose a mindset—like the red pill in The Matrix—to see necessary truths for knowing how to exponentially improve our lives.

Look at it this way: We can either bury the pile of memories from a year we’d love to forget, or use that plethora of experiences as opportunities for rising in life-altering, empowering ways.

Wherever you happen to be on the rewarding and rocky road to a healthier lifestyle, you’ll travel more gently and feel more joy if you learn to make friends with your Inner Critic.

We all have one, and it is alive and kvetching, causing us to constantly question our behavior, our thoughts, our accomplishments: “How am I doing? Am I doing well enough­—in my relationships, at work? Do others see what I’m doing? Do they approve?”

Psychologists call this critical voice the Standard Setter. (And you thought it was called Mom.) It’s the part of the human psyche that sets the bar for us. It’s a good thing in many ways, as a source of inspiration, as a spur to achievement.

When I was a child growing up in Griffin, Georgia, I was tall with a thin frame. I loved playing outside and never turned down the opportunity to show my athleticism during pick up games of kickball, basketball, football, dodgeball, or jump rope with my friends from the neighborhood. How much I weighed was the last thing on my mind, but as I became a teenager, my boyish frame sometimes landed me at the brunt of jokes by the “pretty girls,” who had hour-glass figures that caught the attention of all the guys at school. However, I found a way to use my scrawny build to my advantage. I became a runner on my high school track team. The 400-meter race became my hideaway from my body-shaming critics, who were silenced when I was victorious.

The Vision Statement for the Child Abuse Prevention Association (CAPA) of Beaufort County states: “All children deserve to be loved, nurtured and kept safe
from intentional and unintentional harm.” This vision is so simple
and pure that it seems like it would be a given.

But it’s not.

Since opening in 1985, the Open Arms Children’s Home, just one part of
the CAPA organization has provided that safe harbor for more than
2,300 children. Let that number sink in for a minute.

The pandemic may feel like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, but the magic of the holiday season is alive and well, filled with hope and real miracles right here in the Lowcountry.

The 33rd annual Festival of Trees, a longtime fundraiser filled with holiday tradition for Friends of Caroline Hospice, was cancelled this year due to the covid pandemic. For more than three decades, businesses and organizations sponsored trees by purchasing and decorating them. The public then bought the well-appointed, beautiful trees for either for their homes, to give to a hospice patient, or for a military family. This holiday fundraiser typically raised $30-40,000 to provide palliative and hospice care, bereavement groups, and Camp Caroline, a bereavement camp for students.

The sweet homey smell of freshly baked cookies and savory meals. The heartwarming feeling of snuggling into soft blankets with hot cocoa while watching favorite holiday movies. The sound of conversations and laughter rising and falling around family and friends as they make new memories. The whimsical sights of twinkling lights and festive decorations transforming the ordinary world into a wonderland.

Here comes the December dilemma: Am I going to enjoy this holiday season or not?
We all have obstacles to overcome: too little time; too little money; too much
commercial merrymaking. And that's not to mention the nightly news!

And still, dear reader, we have a personal choice this December: Do I get into the holiday spirit and juice up my well-being... or not? We've got Hanukkah and Christmas and the winter solstice coming up, all leading to the end of the year, when we make resolutions to find true love, or lose 20 pounds, or make good on that promise to work smarter, not harder.

There are a few things Santa looks for in choosing his very best helpers, especially when both Mr. and Mrs. Claus are called for duty together. You better know he has a list and checks it twice!

Happily Married? Check!
Joe and Susan Patton have been married 53 years and are still madly in love and best friends. When asked what the secret is to their long, successful marriage, Joe said there are no secrets. “We tell each other when we’re unhappy.”
Susan added, “Sharing our principles of faith together is an important part of it.” They both agreed quarantining together most of the year has not been a bad thing.

One year ago, the Hilton Head community bore witness to a nightmare. Michael Perry, beloved fishing guide of Papa Bear Charters, was back home in Tennessee, visiting friends and family, when he suffered a horrible hunting accident. By medical reckoning, no one should have survived it. But the fact that he’s here telling us his story is, to him and many others, proof of the existence of miracles.

It was a darkening eve of rain turning to sleet—the perfect scenario for a late-fall bow hunt in Tennessee. Michael was on one of his annual pilgrimages, while his wife Sarah and their two young daughters held down the fort on Hilton Head. Michael was Sarah’s prom date in their little hometown of Paris, Tennessee, and he followed her to the Lowcountry when she came to SCAD 25 years ago. Despite never having fished saltwater before, this third-generation fishing guide was thrilled to make a life for himself here as a charter boat captain, while she got to be the artist and queen of the castle. But nobody could have foreseen the harrowing twist their lives would take as Michael hurried to reach his deer stand that night.

One of the most important friendships you’ll ever have in this world
is with the person staring back at you every morning
from the bathroom mirror…
You.

And no, you’re not about to read an ode to selfishness, nor are you about to view an instruction manual for escaping life’s chaos by saying adieu to everyone and climbing every mountain until reaching an ideal destination for a happy, stress-free existence.

Instead, you’re receiving a Selfieship Guide for establishing or strengthening a relationship with yourself.

But before jumping into that, if you’re entertaining any negative thoughts or hesitations regarding valuing and nurturing this kind of relationship, quickly write them on toilet paper and flush them down your toilet of choice. (If you’ve never flushed negativity down a toilet, you’re really missing out on a great deal of fun.)

In the run-up to the election—I’m writing this before the results are in—my yoga teacher had us doing a lot of grounding poses. And I mean a lot. No wonder my hamstrings were climbing the walls last night. (Thank God for CBD cream.)

First, Sienna asks us to stand and connect to our breath. Then we focus our mind’s eye on our legs: standing tall, rooting deep, energetically drawing strength from the earth beneath our feet, wiggling our toes, arching our soles and opening channels in our legs, our hips, our hearts and our minds to help us through whatever happens next.

Does the practice melt my anxiety? Promote equanimity? Encourage optimism? Of course it does, because feeling grounded and calm in trying times is one of the ways we nurture our well-being. It’s not a fix; it’s a strategy. What’s yours?

I love Thanksgiving so much I would say it vies for first place in my favorite holiday lineup. I love and adore a classic turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I love the fall weather, which always accompanies the day. I love the fact that Thanksgiving ushers in the winter holidays, offering me a front-row seat on the very best time of the year.

I love all of those things. What I don't love is the idea that Thanksgiving is the only day of the year that we give thanks. Gratitude is too important in our lives to be considered briefly en masse on the fourth Thursday of November.

“I look forward to each month’s issue because I need to be in-spired. I remember Pat Conroy’s way to learn about people would be to say “Tell Me a Story.”  Everyone has a story, and I love reading about women (and men!) in the area who have persevered, set goals, failed, lost and gained more than they ever dreamed. They make me think maybe I can, too.

I also love the graphics of the magazine.  From the interesting cover art work, to the quote of the month with a photograph, or illustration to enhance it, the magazine is so beautiful. I always tear out and tape up the quotes of the month.  

Mostly, I also enjoy the new friendships and older ones renewed that I make doing interviews for the magazine. People are incredibly kind to let me have an hour or longer to “pick their brain” and many times “bare their soul.”  It is such an honor and joy to write for Pink.”   – Mary Hope Roseneau, Writer