April in its newness and promise is a resounding bell returning us to the moment, to this minute, as if to say, “Snap out of your mind and into your body!” Recognize where you are, and who you are. When we attune to the present, virtually anything is possible. This season heralds the possibility, the energy of now.
Yet, in the age of Instagram, we’re obsessed with documenting our lives while being riveted by the milliseconds of others’. We’re driven by the clock, by the hours, marking moments as they pass and turning them over in our palms like rocks. I have a vast collection of stones that I’ve acquired during various hikes; they’re piled in ceramic bowls and dishes throughout my home, and I treasure them. But for all of their meaning, I cannot recall exactly where I got them—Point Lobos State Park in California? Acadia National Park in Maine? Jones Gap State Park? Paris Mountain? They are symbols of experiences, of moments that were special but whose details are no longer relevant.
Throughout this Spring Style issue are stories that hold both past and present, culturally and aesthetically. History is useful if we use it as a tool to sharpen our thinking, open our minds, and deepen our care. But staying there keeps us from discovering a grander vision.
We have the singular ability to refreshen our lives over and again. “This is how it’s always been” is detrimental to what can be. Spring encourages us to create, to devise our wildest imaginings. There is no better time.
Blair Knobel, Editor-in-Chief, blair@towncarolina.com
