You see, at first, when I got on the original (canceled flight) I was supposed to have a window seat. I ADORE window seats (despite the bathroom dilemma) I like the view and I like having a surface to lay my head and snooze. What can I say? A moving plane is like a rocking cradle to me.
Anyway . . .
I approached my coveted window seat. I saw a man, a woman then and baby. A cute, friggin' baby sucking on a pacifier (in my seat). uggggghhhhh!!!!
"Would you mind switching seats with me?" said the man.
Crap! Now I'll be sitting in the Hell-of-all-middle-seats! "Of course. It's no problem." If only I was the angel in my thoughts like I was the angel of my words.
I would've been a heartless soul to refuse. I couldn't. The angel of words won. The angel of thoughts repeatedly stabbed the back of my eyeballs.
So. I settled in between a nice woman and a young lad several rows back. (in the middle seat)
I blew up my inflatable travel pillow. Adjusted my i-pod. (in the middle seat) Did I mention middle seat?
The nice woman next to me snapped her head in my general direction and said, "Stop it!"
Stop it?
OK. So, I wondered if maybe Critter was up to some of his Critter-tricks. He's a bit ornery, you know.
But then she says (in the most adorable Texas twang) "I'm so sorry, hon. I'm not talkin' to you. My son is traveling with me and he's pokin' me from behind."
awwwwww! She was so adorable! I wanted to pinch her cheeks! But I didn't. I have some self control, don't cha'know.
"That's funny stuff." I replied. Truly relieved that I wasn't sitting next to a stuffity'uppity window-seater, and thankful for the comedy relief. I liked this woman from the very start.
But then, the flight was canceled.
We reboarded 3 (or more) hours later.
I sat next to the nice lady with the Texas Twang once more. But that was OK, because I already liked her.
We giggled at the loud-mouth braggard sitting in the row in front of us. What can I say? We were loopy from the plane delays and flight changes. We must've been easily amused.
I liked her, even though I didn't know her. We talked, but about nothing in particular. Simply pleasant company.
Fast forward to the hotel. . . .
I'm standing in line to check into my room for the SCBWI LA conference and who do I see? It's the nice lady with the twang from the plane.
"Oh!" She said, "If I had known you were coming here, you could've shared a cab with me and my son!"
Nice! Such a nice lady. Wow! We were at the same conference. How amazing. What a small world.
Fast forward once more to the next morning:
. . . I'm sitting in the opening session of the conference. The faculty of SCBWI is introducing themselves on stage.
Who do I see introduce herself as one of the faculty authors? You guessed it!!!! The nice lady with the twang, the one who sat next to me on the plane and whispered "stop it!" in my general direction (although not directed to me)
We spoke several times throughout the conference. Her name is Jill S. Alexander (BTW) She's sweet as pie. I swear, children's literature people are the nicest people on the whole entire earth!
Consequently, I bought her book, The Sweetheart of Prospect County, and I read it in 2 nights. That's a big deal, seeing that I read it during the conference. They keep you going at conferences like this, so it was no easy feat to stay up in order to read a book. However, I read Jill's book. I laughed. I cried. I stayed up way later than I should have. As a matter of fact, I bought a book for myself and I bought an extra to use as a book giveaway, here! On my blog! Might I dub Jill as the Sweetheart of Children's Literature? She deserves it!
Prepare for a book giveaway! Not today, but in the near future.
Not only has Jill agreed to do a future interview, but she will also be a Critter host as well. Stay tuned.
More to come.
Here's a picture of Jill, Critter and her debut novel, The Sweetheart of Prospect county.
I'll blog more about the book, but for now, I have to marvel at our unique meeting. How often does that happen?
I'll tell ya . . . it made the flight delay well-worth it. If you're ever going to get stranded in an airport, Jill is the lady to get stranded with! :0)
The way things work out sometimes . . . it's amazing!
