Dear Southern Living Magazine:

Let me begin by telling you that I was, once upon a time, a devoted subscriber to your magazine, but when you got all crazy-focused on recipes, that was the end of our relationship.

I actually wish I were still in a position to cancel my subscription right now so as to make a stronger statement on my current topic but since that opportunity is gone, I will share my concern as follows:

Did you really have to name Hilton Head’s beaches as Number One in the country?  Again?

Some of us are less than thrilled about that.

See, it’s all about the traffic.  It’s awful every day now.  It used to only be awful on Saturdays and Sundays (change-over days) but now it’s 24/7.  And yes, I know we’re not in the same boat as New York or Atlanta with their terrible traffic issues, but those cities have more than one main road (or hard roads as we used to call them in West Virginia.)   

You’re coming to Hilton Head?  To go to that “Number One in the Country” beach?  You’re gonna be on Route 278, (that one-and-only), for a long, long time.  There’s no other way in.  Or on.  Or off.  Or out.

We love our beaches.  It’s one of the reasons so many of us moved here.  But we’ve built, and built some more and finally overbuilt.  Much of it to accommodate visitors.  It’s simply not a good thing for our infrastructure or our ecology. 

It’s not all your fault, Dear Southern Living, but maybe you could just tone it down a bit and put us somewhere loosely in the “top 10.”  Please.

 I’ll even renew my subscription if that would help.  For the rest of my life, if you want.   All those recipes, not withstanding.  It would be worth every penny.