Storytellersunplugged

A few weeks ago I did a presentation at a local high school, my standard ‘take charge of your life and read!’ message. The school was relatively small, just a little over 500 students, ninth through twelfth grade combined, which was great because it allowed me to address the majority of the kids in the gym in one fell swoop. Overall, the kids were great, all of them polite, attentive, and inquisitive. Below are a couple of pics from the event….

As is usually the case after a school gig, I left exhausted, but feeling warm and fuzzy and praying that the effort was worth it. With any luck, maybe something I said might help change the course of one kid’s life in a positive way. Those thoughts and feelings, though, have a way of only lasting as long as the drive back to a hotel or to my office, where more work awaits—always. That day was no different. As soon as I returned to the office, the school presentation morphed into a long ago memory as I focused on the mountain of paperwork on my desk. 

That night, when I checked my email, I found quite a few notes from students I’d met at the school Although all of them said, ‘thank you for coming,’ in one way or another, a few asked questions about my life, and a couple even shared their own tragic life story and asked for advice. I answered each, grateful for the opportunity to do so, then collapsed for the night. 

The next morning all thoughts of the school and students got zapped out of my brain by the workload surrounding a local writers’ conference that was scheduled to begin in two days. Fortunately, by the grace of heaven and a couple of loyal helpers, the conference came and went with little destructive chaos in between. True, we had to deal with construction workers hammering and drilling during speeches, the bathrooms next to the meeting rooms being closed for repair, toilets being pushed down the hall past our registration table on squeaky metal carts, and a bathroom stall door falling on one of our guests, yet, somehow, everyone managed to survive.  

As is custom, on the final night of the conference I took the conference speakers to a local restaurant for dinner. We weren’t seated very long when I realized I’d left my cell phone in the car. Since my dad’s surgery and his ever-so-slow recovery, I get nervous when I’m away from the phone too long, so I excused myself and hurried out to get it.  

After collecting the phone, I rushed back to the restaurant, my brain little more than oatmeal encased in bone by this time, and as soon as I stepped through the doors, I heard a chorus of squeals and “Oh, my god!s” I froze, wondering what the hell was going on. Twenty or more teens, boys and girls all dressed up for a prom or home-coming dance packed the front lobby of the restaurant. The boys were grinning, the girls squealing and hopping up and down, hands flapping. For a second I thought some kind of rodent had scurried over their feet. Couldn’t be, though. The kids looked far too excited, not frightened at all. I glanced about, figuring some famous person had just walked into the restaurant and I’d somehow managed to miss him or her. It wasn’t until the kids started crowding around me that I realized their excitement was because ‘I’ had walked in. ME for heaven’s sake. The crowd of adults following up the rear were gawking and frowning, obviously trying to figure out who I was.

 “Oh, look, it’s you! You came to our sc—”

 “And she’s at the same restaurant—”  

“How cool is that?”

 “Can we take a picture with you? Please, huh? Just one?”  

I was floored, blushing madly, and so taken aback I didn’t know what to say. One of the girls finally grabbed me by the arm and tugged me over to a corner where two others joined her for a small group photo, the rest waiting patiently for their turn. Now THAT’S a moment I’ll never forget. J  Below is a pic of a few of those beautiful girls….no, no, not the old broad on the right!

Oh, hey, I promised a few folks here ghoulie pics from my last event, which was done at a haunted house attraction in Houston, Tx….so here ya go!“Come in,” said the spider to the fly……

Actors from the Haunt….

No, I am NOT about to put my hand down some crazed clown’s pants! It’s a robot.