Okay. Since arriving on the mountain, I’ve done the unimaginable and unthinkable – twice. Hey! Don’t go there Rando and Netta – I mean it! You, too, Eric. Actually, all you lovable wingnuts! That means you, too, Lisa! You don’t get a hall pass just because you're pregnant!

I’ve attended two social events – horrors – cocktail parties. I swear to you, this is the truth – after I gussied up (I coulda used a wrench to loosen my mascara wand), I almost didn’t go. Really. I had to force my fingers to ignite the engine of my car. *sigh* I swear to you, I would rather watch reruns of “Murder, She Wrote,” or count dust motes, or pluck chin hairs, which thank God I don’t have yet – yet is the operative word.

Netta recently wrote a great post about parties. The general consensus of the comments was that most of us feel awkward at parties. I can remember when I attended company events where I had to ‘work’ the room because my husband was president of the company. Argh. Let me repeat: Argh. It was perfectly dreadful, albeit, I was a pro – a total party whore. Or there were social events where I simply didn’t fit in (per my specs), or where there were people I, quite frankly, didn’t care to know.

Ahhh, but the joke was on me regarding the two parties I recently attended. I had a great time on both occasions. Not only is the mountain splendid, the people are, too. The other night, I met people from the University, retirees from all over who, like me, have been drawn to Monteagle Mountain’s magic, and seminarians from Sewanee’s School of Theology. Hey! Don’t laugh. Episcopalians know that wine isn’t reserved only as a Sunday sacrament!

I have met the most engaging people. I also have a mercenary motive. (oops, there’s that whore, again.) I need to connect – especially since I am job hunting. Otherwise, I might become some weird mountain woman with baggy hose and 100s of cats, creating chainsaw art, and God knows what else. Hmmmm. Tempting.

But I’m telling ya, The Mountain rocks with the finest folk.

Thank you, Universe. *weep* Thank you.