Mountain-ish

We got back from the weekend at the mountain house tonight. My mom and dad were up there, and Dave and Kate drove down from DC. For an instant party, add hot tub water. Or vodka.

How did I not take any pictures of anything? Nevertheless, here are some good things that happened:

• I got to listen to Dave play the guitar for a while, and we sang along. You know that Tom Petty song that goes, "One more time down South/I'm gonna find my daddy's mistress/Gonna ask for her forgiveness/Gonna pay off every witness"? Love that.
• We hiked up to the top of the ridge and looked over both sides. Then on the way down, just as my toes were sliding into the fronts of my shoes and I was in danger of getting a blister, Dad appeared and drove me back to the house.
• Then I took a two-hour hot tub with Laura and Katie. Two hours and two beers.
• I slept until 11:00 both mornings.
• Laura read aloud from Little House in the Big Woods to Hank and me.
• Kate gave me a box filled with beauty goodies, including some Kiehl's stuff and this awesome Laura Mercier eye brightener. I am ALL ABOUT the eye brightener.
• I started a new book of Ron Rash short stories that Mom and Dad gave me, plus Zeitoun, plus I actually looked at every page of three magazines.

Long story short, it was a typical great weekend up there. One bit of it I was trying to put into words for myself: Friday night was clear and the moon was bright. In the bedroom we sleep in, there is a door to the back porch, down on the bottom level. Late at night, Matt got out of bed to let the dog out, and he stood there for a minute with the door cracked. Where he had been in bed, there was a big patch of moonlight on the white sheet. I opened my eyes and looked at it, and the light on the bed combined with the rush of cool air from the open door seemed like a completely new thing, just a combination of sensations that was strange in its forcefulness--so strange I almost forgot where and who I was. It was an uncanny thing, a mixture of startling and familiar, a fresh impression, newly arriving. My instant thought was, "Oh! Where has this moment been?" And I thought about how much I love my life and all the parts of it.

Do you ever have those moments? And I swear that I was not drunk.

And I'm not drunk now. Though Matt just went out and bought me ice cream, and now he is cleaning the kitchen, and the pleasure of all that is making me feel a little lightheaded. I hope y'all had a loverly weekend. Muchas smooches from the conkisstador.