Saturday, Part Deux (the Jenny & Bob part)

I walked into the house feeling lower than low. I really had been looking forward to that booksigning all week. I've wanted to meet Jenny Crusie for the longest time. She's a fabulous author, and I have so much respect for her. It just amazes me that she is so selfless, and so willing to help other people with their writing. I wanted to be in that RWA workshop today, but Kari needed me there for the bridal shower.

Shane was so sweet when I got home. He even offered to rub my feet while I watched a chick flick. Instead, I sulked off to the office, and sat here at my keyboard almost in tears. Then Gret came bouncing down the stairs, dressed to kill, and asked me to take her to Baltimore to meet Jenny Crusie. Shane immediatly started smiling, and I knew I was doomed. Or saved, depending on how you look at it. He loaded us up and we headed out, 2 hours after I had planned on leaving.

We got on the road close to 6pm. I won't even tell you how fast I drove to make it to Baltimore by 8pm. Let's just say that I was not the fastest person on the road, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

We walked towards Books-a-Million and saw Jenny and Bob right away. They were at a table near the front of the store. I have to tell you, Jenny's pictures do NOT do her justice. She has such an incredible glow, and the warmest smile! After hanging back for a few minutes, I finally got up the courage to walk up to the table. Nobody else was there then, so I was really nervous. Jenny asked me how I was doing, and I said something about being happy to finally be up there. Then she noticed my Cherry earrings. Then she blew Gret's mind by saying "Are you Dee?" When I finally found my tongue to stammer "yyyes" she grabbed my hand and shook it. Then she smacked Bob and said "Hey, this is Dee!" He just looked at her like "WHO?" "You know, Dee. From the blog. Dee??" Still, no light of recognition in his eyes. But that's ok, Bob. I hear ya. Who the hell is Dee, right? But JENNY knew, and that is one moment that I will always remember.

So I stood there next to my daughter, at a table, in front of my favorite author, and had some chitchat. If you've never had chitchat with Jenny Crusie, you are missing out! She is one of the most charming women I've ever met. She was knitting. And talking to me. And smiling. And being charming to my daughter. We were having A MOMENT. Then, wouldn't you know it, Bob had to interrupt. With a coin check! Of course, Jenny dug her coin out of her purse and smacked it down there on the table next to his. And do you know what he said? Well, of course you don't. Only Gretchen, Christina (Margarita Charry) and I know. Because we were the only ones there, besides him and she, he and her...well, you know what I mean! He said "It doesn't count. It's in the plastic case". Huh? When did this become a rule? Has anyone ever heard of the plastic case clause to the SF coin check? Yeah, me neither. So Bob totally lost that one, and now he owes Jenny a drink.

We had a few mintutes of conversation while they signed my books. I brought three to be signed: DLD (of course), Welcome To Temptation, and the Pride and Prejudice book from e-bay (remember? the one that Alesia Holliday also signed?). Jenny signed her books, Bob signed DLD, and I got TWO Moot stamps (one for me, one for Gret!). Then I bought another copy of DLD, Bodyguard of Lies, and Bob's writing book. I got those ones signed as well. We had a chuckle over Bob signing BOL to "Shane", since that's also the name of the hero in the Agnes book. Then I mentioned something about F'burg, and had to explain that it meant "Fredericksburg". That got Bob's attention. "Fredericksburg? You drove up here from Fredericksburg? Where the battlefield is?" Well, no, Bob. Actually, I live about 30 minutes SOUTH of Fredericksburg. But hey, who's counting miles when YOU are at the end of the journey, Bob? Certainly not me.

Only low point of this experience was that I brought Bob a box of ding-dongs, but I forgot to bring them in. They stayed in the van. We planned on eating dinner, then going out to get the ding dongs and bringing them back in to Bob, but J&B were already gone when we walked by the store. Too bad. Now I have to eat all of those ding dongs myself.

And if you have NO IDEA what this blog was all about, then you REALLY need to hop on over to the He Wrote/She Wrote blog (http://www.crusiemayer.com/blog/)and spend a few days reading. Only do that if you have lots of time on your hands though. Trust me, once you start, you won't want to stop. It's like the freakin Hotel California. People check in all the time but they never leave.

On a side note, this greatly improved my Mother's Day-eve. Thank you Christina, for the Chevy's suggestion.
And thank you Jenny, thank you Bob. You both really made my night. And Gretchen's. Even though Jenny said Gret can't read any Crusie's yet. We still both had a GREAT time. It was sooooo worth the drive up there.