Here’s the honest truth: Life is moving fast these days, faster than ever before.

Doesn’t that seem to be so? I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like one of those cartoon characters trying to run up a hill, but she can’t get any traction, so no matter how fast her feet move, she still can’t make any upward progress. I keep on running, but some days I’m barely keeping up.

I’m knee-deep into working on the our Visitors and Newcomers Guide, set to publish at the end of the month, plus our September/October Franklin Living, which has to go to press in mid-August. It will also be no time until we’re all hands on deck here for our annual Franklin County Football magazine.

But in all that hubbub, I just have to take a little break to enjoy the latest issue of Franklin Living, release last week.

In most issues of our lifestyle magazine, we try to feature a variety of stories – stories that fall under different themes. We might have an education feature, a business feature and an agricultural feature, or we might have an arts feature, a community service feature and a religion feature.

One of my favorite things, however, is when those different category lines start to blur and intersect. After all, we know things are so rarely black and white: Hobbies become side hustles, careers become nonprofit passions, personal dreams impact communities and community innovations give rise to individual accomplishments. It’s in seeing an element of life transform and become so much more that we realize how intricate our world and our lives really are.

That’s what you’ll find in this issue.

Our “community service” feature in this issue is also influenced by religion. It’s also growing into a business. It’s about health and compassion and even more. Jocelyn James has long held a vision for a faith-based rehabilitation facility for women in Franklin County, and she’s working on making that dream a reality, taking stride to open The Place of Grace. James has taken her own story of struggling with addiction and crime and is using it to change the future of other women who need someone in their corner.

Our arts feature in this issue isn’t just artistic. It is also agriculture and business and passion; the Happy Trails Flower Farm can’t be boiled down to just one thing. Many of our readers probably know the Cliftons of Red Bay – but if you only know them for their chiropractic practice, you don’t know the whole story. I was so thankful the Cliftons were willing to share their beautiful flower farm with us and with all of you. They don’t give tours, so I hope you enjoy this little peek through photos and a story.

Our Taste of Franklin features Anna Gunderman and her delicious recipe for stuffed peppers – which she developed during her FACS education at Phil Campbell High School. Our culture feature, the Way We Were, explores the past, present and future.

You see what I mean. Franklin County people are talented, full of passion and ambition. Their pursuits can’t be boxed in or easily defined.

I hope you enjoy this beautiful issue filled with the stories of beautiful people and what they’re up to – how they are making Franklin County a better place.

In the midst of the busy summer making all of its demands on your time and energy, I hope you will find a moment to take a break and enjoy this issue. Maybe you can return to that hill with renewed energy and run right to the top.