I love living on Bainbridge Island! People are just so nice! The times I have come across an irritated, mean or plain disagreeable person are so far and few between, they are not even worth mentioning. Most of the time, everyone I know or meet is just so friendly. After seven-and-a-half years, I'm not sure why I am sometimes still so surprised, but occasionally, I am.
Two weekends ago, Eric and I attended quite a few performances of the Bainbridge Dance Center's end of year performances at the BPA. Our daughter, Katy, takes a few classes every week September through June, as she has done since her kindergarten year. She loves dancing so much, and Eric and I love watching her change and growth every year. The performances were outstanding, as usual.
On Friday evening, during the intermission, Eric and I stepped out into the lobby with most of the audience. As we were debating getting in the coffee line, the most exciting thing happened! Mary Guterson, the writer, walked by. My husband, never one to hold himself in too much check, leant over and quietly whispered to me, "That's the one who wrote that book you read." I told him I knew perfectly well who she was, I recognized her from all the media coverage when her book was first published (FYI - "We are all fine here"). As an aspiring writer myself, he knew I was just dying to talk to her. "Well, why don't you go talk to her?" he asked. I told him I didn't care to gush, and anyway she didn't know me.
We changed the topic of conversation and then all of sudden - there she (Mary Guterson) was walking right over to us. Turns out she had recognized Eric from an Ellis Island Simulation at Sakai many years ago when they had volunteered together when our soon-to-be-seniors had been in sixth grade. They had "stamped" together. She also asked if I was his wife and did I have a website of sorts (this blog) because she had somehow gotten wind of the fact that I had mentioned her book in a previous post. We had a short "normal" conversation and I felt wonderful about living in a community, where someone "famous" didn't mind talking to just anyone. She was really sweet and so funny. And even though we never spoke about writing at all, I felt inspired after meeting her.
If you haven't read her book yet, you should. It's very shocking (I hid it from my kids while I was reading it) but also hilarious. Some parts are a tad sad, but also, very obviously necessary to make the story work. I liked it and I'll probably read it again in a few years (I do that with some books).
By the way, Mary, if you happen to read this, I just want to say: Your hair looked absolutely gorgeous! You must have been having a good hair day!