Today's the Day!

After spending over 6 hours online back in June to get tickets, today was the day for Brewgrass 2011 in Asheville, and what a day it was!  And it reminded me of a story I heard long ago. 

A professor was conducting a class on human sexuality and decided to take a poll on how frequently the students in the class had sexual intercourse.  So he announced what he wanted to do, then asked "how many of you have intercourse every day?"  Only  a few hands went up out of the 30 or so students.  And they were all smiling.  "How about 2-3 times a week?" and a lot more hands were raised.  "And 3-5 times a month?" brought even more hands.  "And 2-5 times every 6 months?" saw just a few hands.  And finally, "How about once a year?" and a shy young man in back waved his hand excitedly and grinned from ear to ear.  "Why are you so excited about only having sex once a year?" asked the prof.  And the student replied..."Because today's the day!" he exclaimed!

And that's the way I felt when I woke up this morning knowing that today was the day for Brewgrass 2011 in Asheville!  And what a day it was!

I bought the tickets back in June after spending 6 hours online and enduring numerous server crashes.  It was truly an endurance contest.  All 3500 tickets sold out that day, so I was a little surprised to see a few people selling tickets outside the venue when I arrived. 

An on time arrival assured me of a good place next to the sound man in front of the stage, and the "outfield" was lined with over 40 beer brewers proudly serving their 120 different brews.  I enjoyed a red brew from Aviator Brewery in Fuquay Varina, where my son Derick lives and where we tipped a few last summer.  Craggie Brewery also had their Antebellum Ale, another favorite, and Asheville Brewing had the Highland Gaelic.   Toward the end of the day at Smokey Mountain Brewery I discovered Brown Trout Stout, which tasted just like Guinness, only fresher, and an ale called Thunder Road, which made me want to sing the song from the movie every time I took a sip.

The bands were as good as the beer and this one called themselves Bloodroot Barter.  They had a Cajun rhythm and were more than a little quirky, as you can see by their props and the guitarist laying on the stage.  Mountain Heart finished out the day and they were excellent. 

The people watching was unsurpassed and when I took this picture of the artichoke hat, the lady insisted that I wear it so she could take a picture.  I politely declined several times before she finally let me walk away.  As the long shadows show, by this time of day the hops were in charge and the mood was mellow for everyone.  Oh yeah!  It was a very fine day!

Tomorrow will be my first Jubilee! in 3 months, and on Monday I'll go to Blowing Rock to do a half day workshop for an old client on meeting management.  I can barely remember the last time I did such a workshop and I'm very excited and a little apprehensive about it.  It will be a good test of my hearing ability since my hearing loss, my memory and my ability to think on my feet.  It's a great challenge and I can't wait! 

September has brought a few sad moments, remembering Laverne's last month of life 3 years ago.  It's still shocking how sharp the pain can be, but thankfully it doesn't last very long now.  So much life has happened in such a short time...

Being back home again is such a pleasure that it's hard to describe.  I'm content, happy, and considering being a campground host at Lake Powhatan next year, a favorite place for many years now.  We'll see...