Last night I attended a reception and special concert for those who support the Sewanee Summer Music Festival. The setting of a beautiful, cool evening was perfect for an outdoor reception and then we were escorted indoors via a backstage shortcut. On stage was a circle of chairs. It was close and personal and deliciously intimate. The evening’s instrumental theme was the cello… nothing but the heart-speaking, soul-mending, lyrical tones of cellos. This year’s guest artist, Andres Diaz, started the evening with a solo. With each ensuing performance the number of cellists grew: solo, quartet, a newly composed piece for seven cellists, and then the grand finale of twenty-eight cellists on stage… an arm’s length away from a rapt audience. The engaging twist to the evening was that before each performance the musicians chatted up the audience and then after each performance we were given the opportunity to ask questions. Uncharacteristically shy, I kept my hand down.

I was always the obnoxious kid in a classroom waving my hand like a windsock in a hurricane. I was the type of kid that teachers developed hysterical blindness when I was in the room. Some things never change. I recently attended a week long series of lectures during the Sewanee Summer Session. About 50 people from across the country trekked to the mountain to pretend they were in college again. I made lots of wonderful new friends – especially Pamela. The group attended lectures on Physics, Political Science, Literature, and Anthropology. Some of the lectures I attended:

• Alternative Universes
• Myth America: The Triumph of Ideals over Experience
• Sense & Satire in Jane Austen
• Race and Gender in American Politics
• Recent Discoveries in Planetary Astronomy
• How Virtue Becomes Vice: Explaining Anorexia
• Why Violence in Fairy Tales

I never stopped asking questions. It was heavenly. One day several of us had lunch with the Physics professor. I still had questions. Okay, so the others sounded like interviewers from American Science and I sounded like I represented People Magazine… I ask all the questions people really want to ask but are too shy. Someone has to do it.

One of the week’s highlights was opening my home for dessert and wine for all the attendees and faculty. I love entertaining and this was an exceptionally fun evening.

Okay. I am currently reading The Iliad. Someday I might explain why. In the meantime I need to find some CliffNotes. I have lots of questions. :)

I am the first to observe that I have a beautiful life. At least I think it is. But as many of you know, no one is immune to sorrow and heartache and we all bleed red. xoxo