Happy Thoughts #14~ Who Could Have Known?

I do the book fairs for my son's school. I was asked to do it three years ago when the former chairman's child moved on to Middle School and I was eager to help out. I fell in love with the idea of changing a room into a Disneyland of amazement and wonder of books for these young children. Oh, there is nothing better than seeing a kid get all wide eyed, as their mouths curl at the ends until nothing but teeth can be seen when walking into the book fair for the first time. I am so into it that I have the self proclaimed pseudo name of Book Fair Betty. She is like a mix between Ms. Frizzle from Magic School Bus, and Phoebe from Friends. Crazy outfits, full of life, unending enthusiasm and creative ideas abound I am a bubbling handful when it comes to reading and kids. It is almost obsessive, me and my Book Fairs.



Read Around the World Book Fair

So, when I came into it I had a rep in Texas that I spoke to who held my hand through the process that first year. The following year I received a call from the new rep, a sweet sounding Southern Bell if I ever heard one. She was fun. Very spunky and so amazed that I did the things that I did with the book fair. She checked in on me often, which I appreciated because if I was getting ready to do a purchase for out of stock books, she would do it right there on the phone sending me what I needed before the next day's business. She is patient, kind and I LOVE listening to her talk. That long Southern drawl ... Like deep fried butter it is!


Read Around the World Book Fair

So, long about the end of last year I decided to send her a copy of my book. I enclosed a letter telling her a brief history and told her that I wanted her to understand my passion for books. I wrote one. I know the importance of authors and their connection to kids. Children's books are amazing gateways to a lifetime of learning, we all know that. So in order for my Southern Bell to understand that it is a passion, and not insanity that causes me to ga-ga for book fairs, I needed her to know who I was personally. I signed the book pretty generically, because after all she is really just an acquaintance through school ... it's not like we go out and shop or get a bite to eat. I mailed it off and did not think much about it after that. I do send out a lot of books to people and this was more of a thank you to her for always being so kind.

Read Around The World Book Fair

About a week or so later my cell phone rang and the screen said Southern Bell. I answered with a hearty hello. There was a momentary pause and I could hear her normally robust voice in a soft tone. She said that she had to call and thank me for sending her my book, and that she had been crying since reading it. I told her that I had no intention to make her sad and immediately I was feeling bad for sending it without some kind of warning. (I had never told her about my children in adoption.) She stopped me cold and told me that she and her husband had adopted a girl and the book touched her so much that she shared it with the office. I was stunned. I told her that I had no idea that she was an adoptive mom, and what a coincidence that neither of us knew of our connection to adoption.


BOGO Beach Fair

She told me how touched she was that I sent her the book. She cried as she told me her story and then told me thank you many, many times. Several times for being a birth mother, a few for having the courage to write such a beautiful story, several for more times for sending it and finally for just being me. For as much as she gushed, it was I that was crying on my end of the phone. I began to think it was not a coincidence, that it wasn't happenstance. I believe that for some reason the world brought us together, it was significant that we meet each other. She touched me that day, and on several days since then as I have thought about her during book fair season ... always with a smile.


Veterans: American Heroes Book Fair

In life, there are wonderful people who are just sent to us for a reason. We don't know why, we may take a while to find this mystical feature that will change us for the better. In a universe full of people who think they don't matter, let this be a reminder that you can touch someone in a good way, even without you knowing it, every ... single ... day.


Book Fair Betty with her Seuss skirt