From the Publisher

BY ANN PARENTI

It feels like it was another lifetime ago since the last edition of our magazine. We were days away from launching the spring edition at the Stirling Club, and sadly we had to postpone the event. Now, here we are in the autumn, still waiting on the world to stabilize in some form or another.

As we gathered new material for this edition, we would have been remiss if we did not have a few stories reflecting the current climate of our world. Yet, we wanted our readers to have the opportunity to escape, if even for a moment, into a world with less stress and fewer complications, and be taken away to a place of wonderment. We hope we have accomplished that goal by offering a collection of exciting and heartfelt stories of some outstanding human beings making a positive difference in the world today.

We chose as our cover the stunning piece of art by the beautiful artist, Katarzyna Kociomyk, because it seemed to reflect what so many of us are experiencing in these surreal times. The painting has a tremendous amount of symbolism in it and carries a story of hope I would like to believe. We had an opportunity to interview the most sought-after Joe Pantozzi of Alpha Omega Wealth to give us a snapshot of the importance of financial planning for times like these and married his article to the cover. Since water represents wealth/money in many cultures and especially in Feng Shui and the subject was sitting on a compass in the middle of the ocean, deciding what direction to go, it offers the idea that she will make a decision on which path to choose. She will find her way out of the dark waters by following her heart. Besides, how could I not love a story with a compass involved!

In my last letter, I promised that we would travel to Paris next … we barely made it, but we did! Enjoy a time when life was magical and full of “nice” surprises when we could all still travel abroad. We will again sometime down the road, but until then, we will always have Paris!

I cannot say where this crazy compass will take us next, but wherever it may be, we are so happy you chose to travel with us! As we approach the season of Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday), I would like to thank you all—our valued advertisers, our incredibly gifted writers and contributors who are so giving of their time to showcase the fabulous folks we have interviewed, and most importantly, you, our cherished readers.

May your autumn season be filled with joy and gratefulness. Know that simply by sharing your gratitude to even just one person, this simple act of thankfulness sends light into this world. After all, we all could use a little more light these days.