My Night.

We got a babysitter last night, and that in and of itself is noteworthy.  We hardly ever go anywhere exclusive enough that the kids can't come.  Nor do we often want to bother family members to mind our children because we're too cheap to actually PAY someone to do it.  So, yes, we got a babysitter.

I got in my favorite long, long skirt that makes my legs looks twelve feet long when I wear heels, and my goldy cardigan.  My husband reminded me how much I like looking at him by donning dockers and a blue dress shirt with his favorite tie.  So, all spiffed up, we went to a golf course in Orem, Utah.

Once in the club house, a sign saying "Cedar Fort Author Appreciation Dinner" pointed us in the direction we were to go.  We wrote our names on stickers and stuck them on a place we usually try to divert attention from.  We sat at a table with an author who's been in the business for a couple of decades, Janeen Baadsgaard, and her husband.  Their last name is one of my secret vanities: I can spell it.  Their son set Mark and I up on our first date.  So, we chatted.

Then I spied her.  One of my favorite authors of late.  Carla Kelly.  How many pleasant hours have I spent in the last year submerged in her stories?  Her story "My Loving Vigil Keeping" is one of my favorite pieces of historical fiction.  She did so much research!  She wrote about real people so convincingly that you almost believe she knew them.  One of those people is my great, great, great, grandfather Richard Evans.  Of course, I had to gush at her.  So, while my husband waited patiently in the hallway, I approached her.

In my heels, I probably topped her by a foot and a half.

I walked away from that conversation with her email address and phone number, and she has mine.  She said she wanted to do research for a non-fiction history of the same events she researched for "My Loving Vigil Keeping" and was interested in the story of my grandmother from the other side of the family. (We come from coal miners on both sides.)

At least, that's what she said.  I think she just wanted my info.