Leej, I thank you for your words. I think in one short paragraph you summed up many of the thoughts I have had floating around about the people of this wonderful community.

The bond is all the more special when it is experienced in person. I recall the feeling of arriving at an old friend's house on the evening I drove up to Annap's first gathering. We all sat around and talked and sang together without reservation or pretension until the wee hours of that Friday night. And in the morning Bill Sables and I were the first ones up. We sat on the steps while Bill had his morning cigarette and we talked together like people who had known each other all our lives.

This same kind of feeling came over me time and time again at the Getaway. I know I was not the only one to feel intense connection with so many.

I feel it often when I am here at the Mudcat. It is a feeling beyond compare. Does it get better than this? Yes. When you see this bunch in person the emotions are deeper and wider than can be expressed by my choppy ramblings.

People of the Mudcat, I love you.