Yesterday was the best day yet. It actually started the night before when I gave myself permission to have some wine, and some more wine, and eventually ended up on the back patio of the lodge with the other drinkers talking until the night grew thin and the bugs grew thick. I shouldn’t say “talking”, because as it is, I was mostly listening. I’m the quiet one people are always eyeing sideways curious about but don’t ask because someone else more boisterous is telling a story.

I love to hear the stories. All at once around midnight, the outside became too much and people made their exit (the small number of us who were left). I went to my room and decided not to think too much for my head already hurt from the wine and I knew trouble sleeping would be ahead of me if I didn’t take my Xanax. So I did. Then I slept that uneasy sleep you get from mixing meds and wine and when 5:30AM arrived and I awoke, I was glad for getting up.

That doesn’t sound like the start to a good day, but it really was. It meant I had enough time to do the things I wanted to do, plus I miraculously didn’t have a headache and that was a welcome change from the day before. I braved breakfast for the first time since I’ve been here and sat next to Margret and we caught up and it was good… enjoyable even.

That was followed by workshop, which of course was great, and a full day of lectures and readings. All of it was top-notch. I even had a decent time at lunch, sitting with the play writes and asking questions about things other than writing and their careers. I figured that as long as I keep asking questions, nobody would be asking me questions and then I wouldn’t have to answer. A good trick yes??

The afternoon was more of the same with events but as it happens, there were no evening events planned so the last lecture ending at about 4:30 or 5 meant that, aside from dinner, I had no-where else to be. That was my queto make my escape. It’s great here.. but overwhelming. And I have the luxury of living close enough that I can just go home (provided there is enough of a gap in time). So I did that.

And OMG the Universe was on a roll for my drive home. Every song was better than the last and so appropriate for the moment and building in intensity until there was a grand crescendo just as I pulled into my neighborhood. Was it just my emotions, or did it really happen like that. I want to rewind all the way back to the beginning and write down every song to create some sort of a playlist. Damn you know it’s good when you are driving on the highway by yourself both laughing and crying and singing out loud to no one. Yeah, it was like that.

When I arrived home, I had chores to do. Water the plants, gather some things I forgot, eat dinner, print my reading for today. And in the quiet solitude of my house, I was able to speed through these tasks with enough quickness that I had time at the end of it all to go visit Jim. Now theres the real crescendo. We had about an hour and a half together, which didn’t feel like quite enough, but I knew I couldn’t stay the night so I had to leave at about 9.

Returning to the Lodge, I really needed to get back into the right frame of mind. I had disconnected and needed to re-connect with my purpose here. I went over workshop materials for today, practiced my reading, decided NOT to seek out the late night drinking crowd, and of course wrote some more poetry. Feeling super satisfied with my day, I went to sleep. It truly was the best day yet.

Ready for the Repeat!
~Miss SugarCookie