I had a breakfast business meeting Tuesday before I got to The Big Corporation; I met my friend Merrill Lewis for coffee.  Merrill is the “Grand Poobah and Embarassador” of the New England Moxie Congress and we would have had Moxie except that we were at McDonald’s.

We got caught up on some Moxie Festival business and then Merrill reminded me about my recent “promotion” within the Congress leadership.  I don’t mean to brag, but I’m the “Moxie Festival/Lisbon Falls Coordinator.”

See here, near the bottom of the page!

It was a difficult “promotion” and I had to give a lot of speeches and deal with negative campaigning.  Every time someone said “ugh, Moxie, gross,” it was a personal affront to the spirit of the word “moxie,” the Moxie beverage, and thus to me.  I would quickly spout out a few sound bites, including “it’s a state of mind, silly.”

On top of all that, my brother wrote a delightful book about Moxie soda; any insults to Moxie are an affront to my family name.

Ayuh.

It all worked out, though, and I’m looking forward to new adventures with the New England Moxie Congress in 2013.  I’m hoping more of my friends will consider joining the “Congress.”  By their own description, New England Moxie Congress members are “a loosely-knit band of Moxie zealots and fellow travelers who collect Moxie-related memorabilia, promote the drink’s availability, get together for parades and clam bakes, and some who actually drink the stuff.”  Drinking Moxie soda (“ugh, Moxie, gross”) is not a requirement for membership; it’s optional.  For ten dollars per year, you can become one of a distinctly different group of people.

After leaving my meeting with Merrill, I drove to The Big Corporation, my head spinning with ideas.  This is the best promotion I’ve ever received!  My first order of business as a representative of the Congress is mailing some of the magical elixir to my friends in far-away places.  This is a good weekend to do this.

Then, I need to get Moxie soda into the vending machine at work.  I’ve talked to the friendly young man who was refilling it the other day, but I don’t think he’s the decision maker.  I’m going to have to use my new title and a little bit of moxie on the telephone with the vending company.

I’m also long overdue for a visit to The Moxie Store at home in Lisbon Falls.  Frank has Moxie ornaments and I need to see if they’re going to fit into the decorating scheme on my atomic age aluminum tree.

This is just the beginning of my administration as the Lisbon Falls representative to The New England Moxie Congress.  I have lots to do this holiday weekend, but any time is a good time to ring those Moxie bells.

Jing-a-ling-a-ling.

I’ve still got Moxie.  Do you?