Weekend Update...

OK, it's Wednesday already. I know I'm late with the Little Rock report. But, it has taken me a while to sort it all out in my mind. So here's the short version: It was fantastic! Now the longer:

mary anne radmacher and me
She's the authoress. Remember, she doesn't use capital letters. We finally met in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel late Friday afternoon. From that point on it was a whirlwind. Saturday morning we were treated to a private tour of the William J. Clinton (our last actual President) Presidential Library by a really close FOB(Friend of bill) Paul Leopoulos. Boy a nicer guy you have never met.

Paul gave an insight into the workings of President Clinton that we never get in the media. They've known each other since third grade, but Paul still gets emotional when recalling the life of his friend. By the time we parted company Saturday night we felt like we had known each other for years. Paul and his wife Linda run "THEA Foundation" to honor the life of their daughter Thea who was tragically killed in an auto accident several years ago. Thea was a promising artist and the foundation is in support of the arts.

Totally unrelated and stupid aside: West Virginia Easter Egg once rolled at the Clinton White House. Once a Mountaineer always a Mountaineer!
So after the tour we set up in the Clinton Museum/Book/souvenir store for the book signing.

We signed around 600 books. When I say "we" I mean everyone who had a part in "Lean Forward Into Your Life." I think there were seven of us. Just the nicest, most interesting group (OK, outside of my recruitment tribe) of liberals you could imagine. We had a ball.
Now at this point I would like to introduce mary anne's new husband, David.

As you may guess he is a character. You would be correct. The kilt is in honor of his Scottish heritage. Turns out the guy wore it at their wedding on March 21st. Only at the wedding he wore a traditional Scottish knife (I don't know the proper name for it) tucked into his knee length socks. Gotta admire a man who comes to his own wedding packing a shiv.

Not to be outdone I wore the sherwani I got in India a couple years ago. I never get to wear it, so I figured this was as good an excuse as any. Besides women like it.

So we're signing our books and having a high old time when I suddenly remember that Heifer International, my favorite charity, is headquartered in Little Rock. Turns out it is next door to the Clinton Library. Sadly, by the time I got there they were closed. But, I took this picture in front of it.

So now comes the really amazing part. The last event of the day was a little gathering in the publisher's suite. Those who contributed to the book were each to give a reading of our respective parts. mary anne had me go first. By this time the story of how we "met" through my blog was pretty well known. So, I read my little story and I have to say the response was very good. I was surprised. I mean I thought it was pretty good, but I might be prejudiced. (No ego problems here.)

Then Jan Johnson, the publisher, asks "do you write like THAT in your blog?" mary anne jumps in with and emphatic "Yes he does!" Next thing you know Jan is asking for the blog URL. There had been some talk earlier of publishing blogs in book form (blooks). I told her I one day want to publish this blog and call it "The Best of The Best of What's Left."

So Jan, if you're reading this, please consider my shameless self-promotion. Like every other faux pas I commit, it's done with the best of intentions.

So it was a rare experience, one I won't forget (at least until the Alzheimer's fully kicks in). Kind of motivates me to write that book I've been mulling around. Not the blog book, a different one. Most of the people you meet in the blog would be in it. Even Saps. I've written three pages already. Only 947 to go...