Deep Thoughts for a Sunday Night

I saw the above ditty on Facebook and it really hit me that this is so true. And, yes, you're right, this is probably going to be mildly serious. But it's a Sunday night and if you can't have serious thoughts on a Sunday, when should you have them???

So about a blue million years ago (which if you don't know is a really long time) I worked at B. Dalton Bookseller. It was supposed to be just for the holidays, but as with most things that's not how it turned out. Before the place closed I had collected a 5 year pin . . . yeah, don't judge. I loved that place. It was small and we were so close knit and it was a ton of fun.  Anyway, one day I was shelving books and I came across a book by Cherry Adair. I don't even know what book it was, but I thought it sounded good so I bought it. Let me also share that my paychecks rarely made it home from that place. I always ended up spending way more than I made. *shrug*

So I brought the book home and that weekend I got so sick it wasn't funny. I laid stunned the entire weekend and all I did was sleep and read the book. Once I felt well enough I realized I really loved the book so I wrote to the author to tell her. I never did this, ever, but for some reason I was driven to tell her how much I loved that book. She is so incredibly nice and we exchanged emails and she invited me to join her online writing group. She was going to mentor a group of us to our first book. O_O I was so excited! I had written my entire life, but had never finished a book.

Of course, I jumped at the chance and joined. Within a day or so, I was chatting with a girl in the group. She and I just clicked. She was married and had just had a baby and was currently going to school  and was living in another state and on the surface we really didn't have much in common since I wasn't married and didn't have a kid, but boy I sure understood about going to school. We also had the writing to talk about, which we did. Then the writing leaked over into our lives and who we were and just all kinds of stuff.

The group ended up dissolving since Cherry's career exploded overnight and she couldn't give us the time she wanted to. But the girl I had made friends with stayed my friend.

Now, that baby she just had is getting ready for his senior year of high school. And we've been friends for a very long time. We've visited one another a lot, flown across the country together, talked endlessly on the phone and by IM, and her family came to stay with me last summer without her. Because they're my family too. Who is this girl you ask?? It is the ever fabulous Jessica Jarman! I read the above post on FB and since I am going to see her this week at AAD I realized if it wasn't for Cherry I never would have met Jessica. If I wouldn't have met Jessica I doubt very highly I would have written the books I have or had the fun I've had.

If you see us at AAD don't be afraid come on up to us! Ask us about the flight we took from Seattle to Minneapolis where we laughed and laughed until we cried. Or the 15 hours drive where we listened to just 1 CD the entire way. Ahhh, Will Smith. Or just come up and tell us about that friend you have that changed your life too then I can share with you my friend that changed my life.

--GC