I’m a Mom AND I Love Charleston!

Motherhood is a 24/7 job, and it’s totally normal to feel like your identity is defined around this one very important role. Our writers at Charleston Moms are a diverse group of women in all stages of motherhood. Though we are all bonded as moms, we have unique talents, skills, and experiences that make us who we are. Our “I’m a Mom, AND . . .” series introduces Charleston more to our team. We hope you have fun getting to know us!

Meet Toni

Being able to love where you live is a privilege. However, it should be a right. Everyone should be able to love where they live, and if I had it my way — they would.

My name is Toni, and I moved to Charleston with my husband in 2014 from the Phoenix, AZ area. I had already loved the Lowcountry long before that though . . .

My Journey to Charleston

It started with growing up in the Midwest and taking vacations to South Carolina and Florida, as most Midwesterners do. There was always something calming and peaceful about being in South Carolina though. I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on exactly what it is. A past life? Maybe.

Those family vacations never brought us to Charleston. For some reason, we skipped right by, not knowing how amazing it was. It wasn’t until 2007 that I got to visit Charleston for the first time, a year or so after my sister and her husband moved here. I was hooked. I just knew I had to move here. It only took seven years.

My husband fell in love with it too. He swore up and down he was a “western” kid, born in Arizona, and wouldn’t live anywhere east of the Rockies. But his first time here he fell in love with the magic that is Charleston. We were married in 2012 at the Charleston Harbor Resort and Marina in Mount Pleasant. We made it our goal to get out of Arizona and get to Charleston. A stroke of brilliant luck and we were here two weeks shy of our two-year anniversary.

Why I Love Charleston

Charleston, like any other city, for all its charm, is not without its issues. We have infrastructure issues from a swiftly growing population of transplants, like me. Flooding issues, building issues, education issues, traffic issues, environmental concerns, etc. This does not make me love it any less.

What I love about Charleston most, the good and bad bits, is that it’s still here. I can stroll along streets built before this country was a country. I can look at buildings constructed hundreds of years ago, and right next door is a modern restaurant, shop, or what have you. Some are resistant to this change, which I completely understand. But no matter what, Charleston will still be here through and through.

One of my most favorite things to do is to head downtown early in the morning, grab a coffee from Second State on Beaufain Street, walk around, and just take in the city before it wakes up and is bustling with activity. It feels like I have it all to myself.

Another of my favorite activities is to find and take photos of the dilapidated houses that will probably be torn down soon for something new and beautiful. I wonder what their stories are, the families who lived there, and how they ended up in such a state of disrepair. If they are being reclaimed by nature — even better. I find it so fascinating that nature will always find a way to reclaim what was once hers.

No, these are not the “typical” days spent in Charleston. Trust me, I love all those things too, especially the plethora of amazing restaurants we have at our fingertips. I love going to the City Market for the Night Market on the weekends, and all of our amazing farmer’s markets. I love playing tourist and doing a tour (the cemeteries and graveyard tour is my absolute favorite). I love shopping, taking my son to our many wonderful parks, the museums, and how all of Charleston is very child and dog friendly. We love our two- and four-legged family members here!

More than what Charleston as a city has to offer, is the Lowcountry itself. There is something very romantic about all of it. Maybe it’s too many Nicholas Sparks books, but there is nothing quite like the soft glow of a sunrise or sunset over the marsh. Driving through the Ace Basin on 17, you see the resplendent beauty surrounding you from all sides. Witness the sun peaking through the Cypress trees at Magnolia Plantation or Cypress Gardens as nature sings all around you. Walk on Folly Beach early in the morning and watch the gulls (“sea ducks,” as I call them) and pelicans dip and dive for their breakfast. It’s all breathtaking.

Above all else, my family is here: my husband, my son, my mom, my sister, my brother-in-law, my nephew, and my niece. Not to mention our lot of crazy canines, five in total between all of us. I started my family here, started my business here, and maybe it’s my “advanced age,” but I’ve learned and grown, loved and lost, fiercely. My life is full; it is blessed, and Charleston is home.

Read more in our I’m a Mom AND… series!