I had an exciting week. Well, exciting for an adult. An adult who lives a pretty uneventful life. A Tuesday night kind of excitement. Basically, exciting for me, but maybe not for everybody else. You get the idea. Anyways… I got to meet a favorite author in person at the launch of her book tour for the final book in her fabulous kid lit series. If you’ve read The One and Only Ivan book and its two companions, then you know who Katherine Applegate is. She has written many other books for children as well. In the kid lit world, she is kind of a big deal. The part that made the evening so wonderful was her attitude. She was all about lifting others up instead of keeping herself alone on her pedestal. There were plenty of kids hanging on her every word, and she was friendly and encouraging to all of them. She was gracious when the long line of people snaked around the room with people waiting to get their books signed and talk to her. This was after a day of hosting two school events in a new town. I know the kid lit world is a small world, but it was nice seeing someone at the top not only take time for her fans, young and old, but actually seem to enjoy it. I’ve been to an author event where that wasn’t the case. Interestingly enough, that was an author who was an actor first and co-wrote a series for kids with an author. He couldn’t even act like he was interested in the reader. I know it was just one event and he may have been having a bad day, but it came across as he was above everyone in that line. Katherine Applegate showed how much she appreciated the people who love her work and wasn’t going to just phone it in. Her enthusiasm made it fun to be around her. She is my kind of role model. She works hard and earns her achievements, but she wants to bring everyone along for the ride with her instead of leaving people behind. We can use more people like that.
5/6
peeking through the rocks
mocking all my weekend work
steadfast little weed
5/8
quiet water day
floating along with a friend
soaking up the sun
5/9
wind blowing across
changing the water’s surface
hiding what’s below
5/11
deciding next step
plunge in the cold water or
stay on shore with friend
Tiffany Painter 