“We are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s business; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.”  ~  Gwendolyn Brooks

This is my birthday week (hold those Depends jokes for a while longer, though!), so I find myself remembering past ones and what I’ve learned along the way.
Birthdays tend to do that, at least when you reach a certain age: you’re aware of how fleeting time is, how fast it all goes by in the blink of an eye. One day you look through your address book, and you tear up when you realize how many people you love are gone. Just yesterday you were 17, so filled with the world; thinking it’s all about you.
These days, I’ve come to realize it’s not about me at all: instead of walking in a room “Here I am!” it’s more about saying “There YOU are!”
I still pick old pennies up, needing all the luck possible. To forgive – and mean it. To laugh about life’s tough moments and bring a smile to others. To watch sunsets, shooting stars on a velvet night, to savor good coffee in the mornings. To let go of guilt, to have little or no expectation and demand. To find joy in the simplest of things. To be happy with little. To appreciate nature’s lessons. That hugs are good medicine. That dust isn’t the end of the world. To be grateful: for everything—I mean, everything: the bad and the good. To learn from it all. To say thank you.
That kindness and love are the greatest things we can give to each other. To give the gift of time to others. That our dogs, cats (or other critters we share our homes with) keep a heart tender, from getting too tough around the edges.
​Saluda Welcome Table is every Tuesday, with dinner served from 5:30-7 p.m. in the fellowship hall of Saluda United Methodist Church. All welcome; donations accepted.
Saluda Community Land Trust can help you utilize your dying or dead hemlocks by getting logs made into fence rails, etc. Now that’s making lemonade from lemons! Visit saludaclt.org for more info or call 828-749-1560.
You can pick up a brochure for the hemlock project or SCLT’s enjoyable “Walks in the Woods” at the library: some great walks are planned for this year, some are easy rambles (perfect for me!) and some are strenuous hikes over rough or hilly terrain, some are dog or kid friendly: there is something for every one of us to enjoy!
There’ll be a community potluck and bingo at Saluda Center, April 28, 6 p.m.
The Saluda branch of Tree City USA meets at 6:15, Saluda Library, on the last Tuesday of each month.
Saluda Tailgate Market reopens on May 2, 4:30!
Be sure to plan ahead for a hotdog supper benefit, May 3, 6 p.m. at Saluda Center, 64 Greenville Street which will help Saluda Medical Center. You’ll be able to look over the telemedicine equipment and see demonstrations. For information, contact Shena Mintz at 828-674-9788.
Help our Saluda School out; save box tops! Containers are located at Saluda Library, Saluda Post Office, and Saluda Elementary School Office.
Don’t forget to purchase brick paver that can have the name of your choice engraved for Pace Park to be located in the alley by M.A. Pace General Store.
For information, contact Catherine Ross at 828-749-3534 or carnc@charter.net.
Art Notes: Saluda Art Festival is May 17—plan to enjoy a pleasant spring day strolling around enjoying Saluda and art!
Saluda sympathy goes to the families of Richard Wyckoff and Marion Fairey.
Happy April Birthday to: Martha Ashley, Melody Gibson, Dave Prudhomme, Kaye Vazquez, Cindy Keeter, Betty Anna Brown, Hope Pace, Diane Pace, Ruth Anderson, Greaton Sellers, Clay Arrington, Bonnie Bardos, Luther Connor, Gary Pace, Doug Honeycutt, and Niece Lundgren.
Thank you dear readers, for reading this column!  As ever, the goal is to make you feel like you’re enjoying a front porch visit and small town life in a friendly little mountain town called Saluda.
You can contact me at bbardos@gmail.com; or 749-1153, visit my website at bonniebardos.com for more writing and art, or find me on facebook.