Graduation and Author Signings

Saturday was eventful.  Our seniors graduated from high school on Saturday.  *sniff sniff*  While we could have spent all day at the coliseum at the University of North Texas to attend all 3 graduations, we opted for just the first one in the morning.  (I pulled the pregnancy card on that one!)  The young lady we saw graduate has been in our youth group since she was a 6th grader, so it was definitely a bittersweet moment.  While I'm always happy for our graduates, I feel sad that they're leaving us. 

By the time we took pictures post-graduation, I was ready to gnaw my arm off with hunger, so Steven and I stopped at Subway for a quick lunch before heading to downtown Dallas.  The Dallas Museum of Art was having a book festival, and they'd brought in a ton of children's book authors to do signings, including Norton Juster (The Phantom Tollbooth), Laurie Halse Anderson (Speak, Fever 1793), and Rick Riordan (The Percy Jackson series).  I was so excited to go to this!  Steven had no interest whatsoever, but he's a sweet man, so he went with me.  (Although, I did mention that I go to All-Con with him every year, and this year I was alone for most of it while he volunteered or went to panels I didn't care about and I was miserable with morning sickness!)

Because I chose our graduate over books, I missed the window for getting my Phantom Tollbooth book signed by Norton Juster.  We did make it in time for Rick Riordan, though.  Oh my word, the line for his signing was a mile long and wrapped around the building!  And did I mention the signings were outside in tents?  It's been very hot for early June--like near 100 degrees hot.  We hopped in line, and I wanted to melt.  We were still in graduation clothes, so it was extra miserable.  Steven had remembered to bring a t-shirt to change into (I wasn't that smart), so he went back to the car to get into a cooler shirt. He was kind enough to come back with a water bottle and an umbrella for me to give me some shade.  He also ran into the museum for me to get a book I wanted.  Have I mentioned that he's a sweetie?

In spite of the heat, the wait wasn't too bad.  We were in line with some really nice people whom we chatted with.  At one point, I got out of line to hop into Laurie Halse Anderson's line.  We spent close to 2 hours outside to get autographs, but we did get them.  Both authors were very nice, although Rick Riordan couldn't chat since he had hundreds of fans to get through.  Anderson offered to let me get into the photo I took with her, but I told her I was too hot, sweaty, and pregnant to have my picture taken at that moment! 

Author Laurie Halse Anderson holding a cold drink to her head, showing how very hot it was outside

Rick Riordan signing my Lost Hero book

There was more going on at the museum, but at that point, I was too hot, miserable, and swollen to attend anything.  We went home where I took a bath and spent the evening relaxing on the couch.  In spite of getting overheated, it was an awesome day!