To the Editor:

Each week I look forward to reading a copy of your newspaper. The stories, articles, op-ed pieces, letters, announcements and other items of interest are vital links in the communication networks here in our southwestern mountains. Thank you for your consistency, pursuit of truth in proper contexts, persistence and commitment to accuracy. 

I once spun my wheels searching and seeking an experience outside of myself or something big and expansive to find happiness. This tactic sort of worked for a while, but eventually I realized that looking forward to the next vacation or celebration or milestone was preventing me from all the in-betweens, all the goodness that happens in the weeks and months and years that unfold quietly, slowly — these are the minutes and hours we need to embrace more fully. 

Growing older isn’t all bad.

My grandparents once gave me nuggets of wisdom and I would look at them and think, "How do they know all of that?" 

I woke up this morning with this heavy feeling of how fast time is moving. I mean, in essence, time doesn’t exist and everything is all one moment. But, I still see those increasing grey hairs in my beard and well-earned laugh wrinkles in my face. 

To the Editor:

I asked Rep. Chuck Edwards about the massive changes made in our names by Elon Musk and others to reduce the size of government and he assured me that “Social Security will not be touched.” How can that be?

By the time you read this, I will (hopefully) be the newest member of the 40-year-old club. God willin’ and the creek don’t rise. Onward into this next chapter of my existence. Head held high at what may come to pass in the next decade. 

Hello from Cabin 156 at Tryon International, the massive equestrian center and event facility along U.S. 74, just down the mountain from Saluda. The mountains in the distance remind me of the beauty of my home that is Western North Carolina.

Since the state expanded Medicaid last December, 479,153 North Carolinians have signed up for full-coverage insurance and are already seeing the benefits. 

I recently experienced a visual about worrying. It was a mountain where the highest point is the peak of worry.

That quote underneath the title of this column is from the seminal 1958 novella “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by Truman Capote. It was also the dramatic culmination in the 1961 film of the same name starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly.