At the Fair

One of the perks of being at the authors' table at the county fair--besides chatting with other authors and meeting real-live readers--is re-connecting with Katie Stocks, a watercolor artist who always has her display not far from the authors.

Yesterday Katie wanted an update on each of my children, which always earns points with me as any mom can understand. I was telling her that Steven just survived drivers' ed, and she thoroughly sympathized.

And then she told me a story of when her son was at that stage. One day he was driving and Katie was in the passenger seat. They came up to a stop sign and Katie told him to stop, but he kept slowly rolling along even as she kept telling him to STOP and even as she saw the police car on the other side of the intersection and her son didn't.

They turned the corner and so did the policeman, and soon lights flashed behind them. The policeman told her son, "I saw you rolling through that stop sign, and I saw your mom talking to you, and I could tell you weren't listening to her. From now on, LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER."

Her son didn't get a ticket, but from then on he listened to his mother.

I told Katie that I and probably lots of other moms would pay to have that happen to us.

Quote of the Day:
"Oh! This is so amazing! I've always wanted to meet a real arthur!"
--a young woman at the authors' table