Road Trip with Lizzie

Yesterday was the craziest day of my life.

First of all I want to give a HUGE shout out to Joanne Reinbold and Justynn Tyme for being brave enough to drive me down to the Kent County Library for Authors and Audiences Event.

So you can understand why it was such an insane day for me, let’s start with the day before.

Friday, April 25th 2014 9:30 PM

Bedtime. At least I seem to think so, my kids have different ideas. 9:30 PM is officially the witching hour here in my house. My kids seem to have more energy and fight sleep with everything they’ve got. Peter was being his usual fun loving, rambunctious self as usual. He was running in his room, with the iPhone in his hands, not paying attention to where he was going, tripped, fell and bit his own lip. I was in the living room when I heard the loud THUMP, quickly followed by his crying.

I ran to the bedroom and found Peter just standing up from his fall when I noticed a shock of bright red over his teeth, lips and chin. It was a disaster. I won’t give you too many details because trust me, I don’t want to remember how awful it was. Safe to say, he didn’t need stitches. I cleaned his wound as best as I could, gave him a lot of Tylenol and was able to get a little bit of sleep.

Next morning. Saturday, April 26th 2014. 6:30 AM

I checked on Peter and he seemed to be okay. So I got ready to go to Dover for Author’s and Audiences with Joanne and Justynn who had graciously agreed to pick me up in exchange for gas money.

I said, “You guys are brave. I can promise you it’s never boring when I’m around.” I didn’t think it was going to be this eventful. Usually I’m just a smartass, telling jokes and making sure everyone has a good time. But this time? Stuff actually went a little crazy. I blame the fairies.

Here’s what happened.

1. My debit card wouldn’t work at the gas station. Sounds silly, but to me that was the first sign that things were going to get a helluva lot more interesting.

2. Luckily the drive went smoothly. Lots of great discussions, laughs, and jokes. I had a lot of fun talking to Joanne and Justynn and getting to know them and allowing them to get to know me better.

3. When we finally arrived, I bent forward to check my shoes and unbuckle my seat belt when I heard a loud SNAP. For a moment I thought that my bra had become unhooked. When I got out of the car I felt a breeze…that was when I realized that the zipper in my BRAND NEW dress had come undone. Joanne and two other authors that I was meeting for the very first time got to see me in a very awkward situation. They tried to fix the dress and get the zipper to work but nothing worked. All I could do was put my jacket back on and wait until the library opened so we could get set up, and have Justynn take me to WalMart so I could buy a new dress.

4. Once the library doors opened to the authors (the library opened to the public at 1PM but authors were allowed inside at 10AM) I put my things down and headed straight to the ladies room. Took my dress off and pulled, pried, prodded, swore enough to make a seasoned truck driver blush and finally fixed the zipper on my dress. MIRACLE!!

5. Had lunch. Called Kurt to check up on Peter. He hadn’t eaten or drunk anything all day. I’m exhausted and worried. Still try to put on a brave face because my mom told me that since his lip was hurt he wasn’t going to have much of an appetite. But still…my baby boy was on my mind all day long.

6. Got a chance to meet Annette Curtis Klause author of Blood and Chocolate & The Silver Kiss. Listened to her speech and discovered that we had a lot in common.

7. Had lunch and got a chance to meet Christy Schaffer who is even lovelier in person (we met on facebook). And also saw some other friends and fellow authors that made the trip to the library specifically to see Joanne, Justynn and I. Definitely the highlight of my day.

8. Had a mishap with my credit card reader. It was working just fine until suddenly it just refused to work. Why? I have no clue. At least the lady was a good sport and found an ATM machine nearby and bought a copy of Someone Wicked. (BTW Have you picked up your copy of this amazing book yet?)

9. I feel bad because even with all the craziness going on I had a really great time with my friends, but my mind was elsewhere. My mind was on Peter and how he was doing. Because no matter where I am, I’m always a mommy. By the time I had checked in on my husband and the kids, Peter still hadn’t had a single thing to eat or drink.

10. We left a few minutes early because most people had already left (beautiful day usually means that people are going to spend the day outside) and I really wasn’t paying much attention to what was going on. I blame exhaustion and checking my phone every ten minutes to see how Peter was.

11. The drive back to Wilmington went smoothly thank God. We talked the whole time. And it’s funny because when I’m home I don’t say much. I keep my thoughts to myself but when I’m around like-minded people, I can’t shut up. I have to talk to the point where I have to get as much of my thoughts out of my head as possible. And then I can go back to hibernating in my house until my next outing.

12. Ooohh and I got a leprechaun’s cane/magic wand yesterday. Christy Schaffer gave it to me and I’m totally going to find a way to write it into my next book. 🙂 And I got books signed by Annette Curtis Klause. 😀 Will post pictures later.

13. In case anyone is wondering Peter is doing a lot better now. Took a trip to the emergency room, and lots of love, and patience but he’s finally eating, drinking and being his usual, fun loving, rambunctious self.