Dear Reader,  

I’ve always been someone with a big heart. My mother said it to me, and my grandmother, and my dad and everyone. I love large and I love lots and I love hard. Sometimes this heart gets me in trouble. 

I think sometimes our world tries to narrow love down too much, trying to make it into meaning one thing. That is not what love is. Love is through family, through friends, through time and space, through a genuine connection to something that resonates so deeply within you it echoes in your soul. We can love in so many ways at so many times. 

We can’t label all the ways to love, but people have tried. The Ancient Greeks created seven words. Seven loves that we can find in our lifetime. Philautia meaning self, philia for friends, storge for family, agape meaning selfless love, pragma being committed love, eros for romance and finally, ludus for playfulness.  

My dedicated team and I will do our best to communicate these to you through the pages. As you read our words, I want you to think about your life and please see all the little ways you love. Open your hearts so you can love large and lots and hard.  

This issue is my gift to you, my way of showing you that love is not just one thing. It has forms and connections, intersecting paths and aisles. From my big heart to yours, this is “Local Love.”