Oh boy oh boy oh boy, I finally met her…The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. I wrote in an earlier post about my excitement to attend her book signing. Well, here went the day. I woke up earlier than everyone (not unusual) then stocked myself on coffee and hurried everyone awake and ready. I rushed 2nd man out the door so I could take off soon after him. Been trying hard lately to get in treadmill time, but this day…it didn’t matter. I had to get to the bookstore early because they were actually passing out line numbers to meet her in the afternoon. (Oh, I should mention that my mother-in-law came to be with the kiddos while I did this.)
Don’t you know that every stoplight lasted extra long that day? I had been prayerful that morning about it, asking the Lord to allow me this little fun excursion of a day. So, I had it in my head that if there was a crazy long line that I’d just have to leave my books with the bookstore manager and have them signed without meeting her. I was worried, because it fell on a Wednesday and I was pretty sure that 2nd man and the Lord wouldn’t appreciate me skipping church for this. Anyway, as the Lord would have it there was hardly anybody there yet. The bookstore was to open at 9:00 am to start handing out tickets and I arrived at 8:38 am. I kind of felt like one of those crazy people you see who camp out on sidewalks to get tickets to a concert or event. Oh well, at least I wasn’t alone.
There were five others there before me. So yes, if you do the math that made me #6!!! I bragged about it all day on facebook and to pretty much anyone I met at the store or wherever. The lady directly in front of me had come from a few hours away and had to get up at 3:00 am to get here, but I wasn’t about to call her crazy. I was also relieved to see the pastor’s daughter of another church of like faith in our town. Since I hadn’t and sadly still haven’t had the chance to read this new book I was worried that I was lining up to get a book signed that could be dirty. I’m not usually this trusting of an author, but I do know that she doesn’t believe in discussing hanky panky on her blog, so I’m trusting she didn’t write about it in her book. Ha…ha…he (that’s the sound of nervous laughter and a twitching eye).
Now, some of my facebook friends took the liberty to call me crazy for lining up to get a book and a cookbook signed. To them I say thphhhhht! It’s not often that I can enjoy the wit and humor of a secular author. Let alone wit and humor when it comes to cooking. But, this lady has a knack for it that I enjoy, and it’s even inspired me to try out new cooking techniques. It is also what inspired me to start blogging. Mine isn’t nearly as fancy or sophisticated a blog as hers, but she inspired it nonetheless.
At some point in the early afternoon I jumped my girls because they weren’t getting their schoolwork done fast enough. I’m not proud of this, but I’m thankful for daughters that simply understand that their momma is a little crazy sometimes. I think they were a little awestruck by my excitement of this whole deal. They even knew I was going to shamelessly use them for their new cameras (Christmas gifts from Nana) so I could have pictures of proof for this whole event. Then, somewhere around 3:00 I started getting nervous. Why was I doing this? What is one supposed to say at these things? Do I go into spiels about how wonderful she is? Or do I act cool and just walk on through as she signs? This is my one chance to meet her, is it even polite to take pictures? As you can see I’m not a very well versed devotee.
About 3:30 or so I piled my girls in the car and left little guy with his Nana. We went up to the bookstore and I was amazed at the crowd that had already gathered. The newspaper people were there and just about every woman in this town. We found our spot near the front of the line and the girls found books and sat on the floor reading to pass the time. As it got closer my palms started sweating. Good grief! I felt like one of those silly Michael Jackson fans or something. The Pioneer Woman was running a little bit late getting there and the lady standing behind me started huffing, “I just wanted to get a signature and go already.” She was getting very impatient. Her line number was actually before me, which made me wonder, “if it wasn’t such a big deal to her and she was in such a hurry, why did she get up so early to get a line number?” I just smiled and enjoyed watching all of the conversations going on around me.
When she finally made it, the applause took over. She answered a few questions at the beginning before signing any books. Someone asked her what her day was like and I loved her answer. It went something like this, “We did school, and some more school and a little more school. Around 1:00 I washed some dirty pans in the sink from last night and about 1:30 I took a shower.” A 1:30 shower! I love it. Can you believe she’s like… human?
When I was nearly to the front of the line 2nd man called me. Again, I’m ashamed to say I answered something like, “I’m about to meet the Pioneer Woman, can I help you right now?” Thankfully I have a gracious and humorous husband. He knew I was excited. I told my girls to take lots of pictures. I figured between the two of them at least one good picture should come of it. (Actually they’re both better photographers than me.) I felt silly when I asked her to sign my books “to the 2nd mans wife” She cocked an eyebrow and I quickly explained the title and that I was inspired to blog because of her. However, I didn’t exactly tell a lot of local people about my blog because it’s sometimes about people in the church, but not bad stuff. Anyway, I rambled something like this. She was gracious. I’m pretty sure she probably didn’t understand a word I said. She’s nice like that. I asked her if I could have a picture taken with her. Then I asked if I could put it on my blog. She laughed at me and said, “of course!” Was that a stupid question? Anyway, the two newspaper ladies asked the girls if they wanted to come around and get in a picture too. We were holding up the line of like, well…several hundred people. Ah who cares! This was my big chance. Thank you Lord for big chances.
Afterwards, I was on a bit of a high. I called 2nd man back, after we left and he started explaining why he called, but then said he’d talk to me later, because I seemed a little high and excited. I guess I was talking fast. I told my girls, “Just think, if that was so exciting, just to meet a lady who writes books. Imagine how exciting it will be to meet Jesus some day!” I know it may sound cheesy, like I’m trying to spiritualize it, but it’s true, just think about it! Anyway, I’m thankful the Lord allowed me to have this little bit of excitement in my week. It made a very special memory and I’m sure my girls will talk about the day their momma acted like a swooning fan.
2ndmanswife 
Sounds like fun!
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