Ms. Sparkle is back. The moon has changed or something because I’m back on track, feeling positive, happy and being productive. As I was coming out of the Shakespeare & Company office I saw three people in the lobby looking lost and curious and I asked if they needed any help. We chatted for a while, they were tourists and had been to Lenox years ago and saw the company perform when they resided at the Mount. I told them about the shows in performance now, waved my arms in direction of the theaters, mentioned that I was on my way for a walk to the Mount and fluttered a cheery good-bye. 

I have been hanging around Shakespeare & Company in and out for a year and this was my first sojourn to The Mount, the restored home of Edith Wharton, and Shakespeare & Company’s first home in the Berkshires. It is a magical place, full of ghostly memories. 

The grounds are open dawn to dusk for meandering and I had it all to myself in the sparkling snow-cone-like late afternoon. I let my imagination run free and it transported me to 1902, wearing a long dress, corset and an extravagantly trimmed hat. I strolled about the gardens, paused at the beautiful views and made-believe I was being courted and asked to dance on the broad terrace. It was lovely.

Photo Annie Leibovitz

Then, lo and behold, there came busting into my dream-state the three tourists I had met earlier. I was on the terrace and the two gentlemen ran, yes ran, toward me. I was now conveyed to Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene, two or three stories above them on the veranda shouting and waving down at them. 

They were delighted to see me again, and we bellowed our excitement back and forth about the glorious beauty, our personal journeys to get there and our delight in the fantasy of the past. I truly was the Belle of the Estate, it was quite invigorating and brought my daydreams into the present for a few moments. There are not many times in my life that I will be celebrated admiringly from the depths below while standing on a mansion balcony. 

There was something hushed about the place as I wound my way home through the woods. I am so amazed that I am living just down the street from this gorgeous estate. How lucky can a girl get? I paused to pay homage at Ms. Wharton’s little pet cemetery and a tune came unbidden…

And I stood there thinking as I said goodbye

Today is the first day of the rest of my life

I’m gonna stop lookin’ back and start movin’ on

And learn how to face my fears

Love with all of my heart, make my mark

I wanna leave something here

Go out on a ledge, without any net

That’s what I’m gonna be about

Yeah I wanna be runnin’

When the sand runs out

(Listen here to Rascal Flatts When the Sand Runs Out)