Cause time is the worst kind of friend

Always there till you need it, then gone in the end

Oh but love is stronger that it, love is stronger than it.

            - Georgica Pond, Johnnyswim

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of our beloved Lowcountry Weekly, I offer this reflection.

            
My first Whatever column was published in August, 2004. The first sentence read, “You have to step out to experience all that there is to know, all that life in Beaufort has and will offer.” Looking back, that first sentence had to have been inspired by angels. Life in Beaufort and writing for this newspaper are two of my most treasured gifts.

I am on a kind of pilgrim’s journey these days. It started in mid-April, just after Easter, about one month into these weeks of quarantine. The constraints of contagion are loosening, but my retreat into learning more about who I am will last through the rest of the year. When the formal study ends, I wonder what will carry through the remainder of my life.