The Swag Written by Bridget Williams
It was after 10 p.m., and my eyelids were heavy after a day on the trails. Despite being one of the younger guests at The Swag, a delightful country inn in Waynesville, North Carolina, my energy seemed to pale in comparison to that of our welltraveled cohorts. Surveying the lively scene, I turned to Deener, the proprietress, and said, “You must tell me where you hide your fountain of youth.” She smiled coyly, looking some two decades younger than her stated age, and asked why. “Well, there’s a woman here celebrating her 70th birthday who hiked nine miles, another marking her 50th wedding anniversary who is presently accompanying the after dinner piano music by doing soft shoe and high kicks to rival a Rockette, and you seem to have channeled the power of the Energizer Bunny,” I replied. Her answer was something about the purity of the mountain air and the fellowship of friends and loved ones, but I know that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to recanting all that is special about The Swag.
54 slmag.net
