Dear Reader:

Apparently for years each of us Ya’s, individually, have been feeling the same sense of freedom and peace as we cross the McKinley Washington Bridge that takes us to Edisto Island. It is like the weight of the world  dissipates the moment you reach the highest point of the bridge and look out over all the quiet beauty around you. Sometimes the water and skies appear to connect as one…the same rich color of blue set against the bright green marshes…breath-taking.

A couple of years ago one of us mentioned the feeling and everything stopped as all of us exclaimed (at the same time) that we experience the same exact feelings… of leaving one world of responsibilities behind and approaching another world of abundant friendship, complete acceptance, and security. Edisto Beach for us is a little cocoon where we each can de-stress in anyway we choose and just completely be ourselves. It is, in every sense of the word, our sacred place.

The mist from an early Monday rain was still drifting in the air as the sun began breaking through the clouds over Edisto Island… while driving there last week. I kept wanting to pull over and take pictures but the road is narrow going into Edisto and there really isn’t a safe place to pull over…but I did get lucky (with no cars behind me) and snapped a shot of Christ Church in Adam’s Run on the way in. When I passed Toogoodoo Road a memory came back to me from teaching SC History that made me smile.

I was doing a lesson with third grade students and the worksheet had a list of wonderful old strange names from South Carolina history…names guaranteed to make students laugh. Before I helped them find the real origin of the words (many from Native-American tribes or rivers) each group (assigned a word) had to come up with a creative way they thought the name started…their own origin story.

One year one group got the word Toogoodoo. After giggling for a few minutes I could see one little boy in the group whispering and the rest nodding. When I called on him for his group’s idea of how the word became the name of a place…he said:

“One time we got to go to the Old Fire House Restaurant in Hollywood, SC (near Edisto Island) My daddy and me can out-eat anybody when it comes to fried shrimp so at the end of the meal I stood up and said (rubbing my stomach)..”This place is just ‘too good…oooooooo!’ We think the Indians did the same thing after they had caught shrimp from the Edisto River and that is how the name became a place.”

So every time I go to Edisto I pause a minute when I pass the Toogoodoo road sign and grin! (Believe me the Ya retreats’ meals are also “too good…ooooo!“)

*The real origin is: Near the coast, part of the Edisto river was once known as the Ponpon River. The Dawhoo River connects the Edisto to the North Edisto River, also the confluence of the Wadmalaw and the Toogoodoo rivers, where they meet the Atlantic Ocean. Originally the terms Dawhoo and Toogoodoo were Native-American tribes from this area.

Yesterday morning Mollie and the boys came to visit Boo Boo and we had lots of laughs…Mollie’s birthday is coming up this week so I picked up a fall wreath (from Edisto Island) for their new home and gave it to her. The women at King’s Market make such beautiful wreaths from all natural items.

Then Mandy, Eva Cate, Jakie, and I were off to Disney on Ice…Frozen! We figured since Eva Cate was three when we first took her it was time for Jakie to get the same amazing experiences too. Suddenly, however, he got scared when he realized John wasn’t going…and was very apprehensive all the way there. He sat in Mandy’s lap for the first part of the show but was so mesmerized he forgot all about being scared and loved it…we all did. Eva Cate dressed up as Anna from Frozen and Jakie wore his light-up Mickey Mouse  PJ top!