Where did the name Wildwood come from?

People often ask how I chose the name Wildwood for my business. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an affinity for wildflowers. There’s just something about their happy faces that make me want to spend time where they grow. I love the spontaneous joy they impart. Their effect on fellow wild things appearing so effortless.

My Grandma Margie and Great Aunt Claire listened to the song Wildwood Flower by June Carter Cash for the first time on my brand new iPod Nano. They just couldn’t believe the clarity of sound as they sat with their eyes closed, swaying to the music, picturing days gone by and loved ones who remained just as alive in their hearts as the day they left the Earth plane.

We sat around the kitchen table that evening talking about my maternal great grandma, Della Mae Young (pictured above). Wildwood Flower was one of her favorite songs. She raised 7 children (gave birth to 9), my Grandma Margie and my beloved great aunts and uncles. She was born in North Carolina but raised a young family with her husband Arthur in a holler in the Tennessee Mountains. She even shot a bear once! Or so she thought. The next morning, turns out, she had shot the neighbor’s cow. Whoops!

Just as many of you, I’ve endured some heart-wrenching disappointments in life. But with every trip around the sun, I become more like the wildflower in June’s song, “laughing despite my tears; showing bravery in spite of faint-heartedness.” This is yoga. Learning to embrace our journey with that balance of effort and ease.

The best any of us can do to honor our ancestors is to carry on the goodness they began with their existence. May I be to others what a wildflower is to the field…growing wilder and more carefree with age; not intentionally seeded in any particular spot. Blowing in the wind with ever growing flexibility.

And when I sit still long enough, the wind on my face, listening to the rustling of flowers swaying in the field, it sounds just like a cheering section of ancestors rooting for my happiness.