Be Lucky

“If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it.”

John Irving


March is The Luck Issue! I always thought of March as a lucky month. It the month of spring’s arrival and rebirth, a week’s vacation for spring break that almost always includes travel, horse racing and hats, St. Patrick’s Day, and the occasional Easter, and it is the month in which I was born. Lots of things to celebrate!

This month we completed an entire year of surviving a pandemic. So much has changed, and I feel extremely lucky that Bella and I have both survived the year. I am fortunate to be part of the downtown Aiken community of businesses, and I have taken the opportunity to get to know them better over the last year. I was impressed by my neighbor Rob Pruiett, owner of the Aiken Brewing Company — instead of shutting down, he and his crew worked day after day remodeling and updating the restaurant. The brew pub is the longest-standing restaurant in downtown Aiken, holding its location for the last 24 years. They celebrate their anniversary this St. Patrick’s Day. My beer journey continues with articles about the brewery, the restaurant, and with Rob as our March 2021 Bella Fella. Come celebrate this month with Bella and the Brew Pub!

Another highlight this month is the 150th year celebration for Aiken County. Our “Cabinet of Curiosities” shares stories about Aiken County, starting with its conception. “After decades of petitioning the South Carolina State Legislature, a bill was finally passed in March of 1871 to create a new county with the city of Aiken at its core.” Check out the article for more about our area.

I am sure 1000s of people like me will be missing the horse racing this year. Aiken will not be hosting its Triple Crown. Kim Cordell shares memories of horse racing in her article “Lots of Luck at the Aiken Trials.” Though it is hard to miss the Trials, Steeplechase, and Pacers and Polo, I know they will be back, and I take comfort in knowing that I will have a newfound appreciation for Aiken’s rich equine culture when I am able to tailgate, in a hat of course, with friends and family.

In closing, I would like to thank Bella’s editor, Robin Warren for all of her hard work over the last couple of years. To say that I am lucky to have her is a huge understatement. This month I am honored to have her write an editorial alongside my publisher’s letter. If I could wish for luck for any of you, it would be for luck in friendship. I find that luck in love and money and even health can be out of our control much of the time. May you be the person someone else is lucky enough to call a friend.

Picture of Ladonna Armstrong

Ladonna Armstrong

Publisher of Aiken Bella Magazine.
Picture of Ladonna Armstrong

Ladonna Armstrong

Publisher of Aiken Bella Magazine.

In the know

Related Stories

Romance in the Rural South | Palmetto Bella

Romance in the Rural South

Humor is everywhere — you just have to keep your eyes and ears open. As I have always said, you can’t make this stuff up. I was speaking in a small town outside of Winchester, Virginia, around Valentine’s Day, and I mentioned to the audience that it warms a wife’s heart to be given fancy lingerie. After the program, a sweet young woman approached me and said how glad she was I had made that suggestion. “My husband only buys me the Hanes Her Way drawers that come up real high. They are nice drawers, but I sure would like some of them fancy high-cut drawers. The only thing I

Read More »
Scraps of Love | Palmetto Bella

Scraps of Love

It is a rather small scrap of simple cotton cloth. It is faded cream in color with a pattern of soft blue leaves printed across it. And it is fastened onto a large page of paper, along with half-a-dozen other small lengths of different bits of cloth and folds of ribbon. The page is one of many pages, bound into a very large, very old, book. And there are rows and rows of books just like it. And they are shelved and preserved within the Foundling Museum in London, England. England in the 1700s was constantly wet, slicked and grimed, bone-deep cold, with steel-colored skies and frozen rivers, struggling through

Read More »
A Dialogue with Singer Songwriter: Chris Ndeti | Palmetto Bella

A Dialogue with Singer Songwriter: Chris Ndeti

Recently, Bella Magazine caught up with Chris Ndeti for a round of 5 questions. Who were some of your musical heroes and influences growing up? Do you find elements of them in your work today? My mom grew up in Brooklyn during the 50s. She sang with her local girl group at The Apollo Theater before it was televised. So I grew up listening to the doo-wop, rock, and pop of that era. My dad is from Kenya, so I would listen to popular tunes from Kenyan artists. In my tween years I began branching out on my own music ventures. I started listening to an Atlanta radio station 99X.

Read More »
A Case for Self-Love | Palmetto Bella

A Case for Self-Love

Loving yourself unapologetically is the greatest thing you can do for another. Reread that sentence slowly. If everyone acted in soul-aligned, self-loving ways, what beauty could we create together? What happiness and harmony would ring throughout the world? Life would be magical for all. Instead, many of us seek acknowledgment or external love by bending into a pretzel of pain and misery. Let’s debunk the myth that self-love is selfish. If supplemental oxygen is deemed necessary on a plane, step one is putting on your own oxygen mask. It’s important to make sure you’re receiving oxygen before you help others — if you’re breathing, you can help provide breath for

Read More »