Welcome, 2023! With this issue, we celebrate a new year of possibilities and beginnings, including for those embarking upon matrimony. It has been a rocky few years for weddings and gatherings, but with our 2023 Wedding Guide, we see couples venturing forth again, albeit in often scaled-down ceremonies with an emphasis on joy and the experience rather than extravagance and pageantry.
Gina Malone, editor
There’s something to be said for tucking ourselves inside in wintertime, sitting by the fire, reading new books Santa left under the tree, watching movies old and new on the television or just taking a nap now and then under a warm quilt. But cold temperatures shouldn’t limit us to quiet relaxation. There are plenty of chances to get outdoors and let the brisk winter air put some apples in our cheeks. Black Mountain Recreation & Parks presents its Cabin Fever Defeater Series, with opportunities for hiking, trail building, river clean-up and a little indoor rock climbing when weather says otherwise to getting out and about. We also visit with the pros at Cultivate Climbing, who’re making rock climbing accessible and welcoming for all. And if birding is more your style, the NC Bird Atlas is seeking volunteers.
Art knows no season and, as usual, we have plenty of new exhibitions and performances, including at Blue Spiral 1, Woolworth, Wortham Theatre and Bardo Arts Center.
While you’re pondering resolutions and goals, consider the words of Heather Hanson, whose vibrant and healing work of art graces our cover this month and whose inspiring story can be found on page 10. “Once you have faced death,” she says, “you realize that life is meant to be lived joyfully. That ‘making a living’ doesn’t mean you must be miserable. That your joy is not something you do ‘on the side.’”
May your brand-new year of possibilities include many days of joie de vivre!
Gina Malone can be reached at gina@thelaurelofasheville.com
