Second Sat Spotlight Share

Now rewind. Back to Sat morning. Have you been keeping track of how many people I owe a great deal of gratitude? Here's the story of yet another. In the first picture are two Deborah Jo's. We also met for the first time last year at DC-NAEYC. We were carried away with the concept of our sharing the same name. We're both from Indiana originally. Deborah Stewart is dazzling in so many arenas. She's a sweetheart for sure. She's beautiful. She brilliant. She hosts an amazing blog/fanpage/website combo that brings together THOUSANDS of early childhood professionals in her conquest to share ideas from around the world, making the life of the teacher easier/broader and happier/brighter..... all while improving the lives of the children they serve.

She happened by the ZB booth Sat morning and realized that somehow she'd 'missed' the release of my second picture book last year. There were still a couple copies of "Tall Giraffe" on the table and so we proceeded to sing it together. (The woman's got serious groove.) She took a copy home to her Hoosier peeps. I mentioned that I was planning to treat myself to attend her workshop presentation late in the afternoon, as the exhibit hall would be closed by then. She giggled graciously that she would be intimidated if I were in the audience. We laughed together.

The exhibit hall closed. I got all of my gear back over to my Hilton campground. I picked up a few of my remaining fliers and went in search of her presentation. She drew the last slot of the last day. I was going in an effort to offer 'support'...... concerned about how many participants would be staying to the bitter end. I arrived to the over sized, extra large room, to find that there were no available chairs and very little remaining floor space either. LOL. No need for concern. LOL She had them captivated.

I was enjoying Deborah's never ending supply of warm hearted, child friendly rhymes and songs along with everyone else. She then suddenly said, "We have a celebrity in our midst" beckoning me to her stage. I was truly flabbergasted. Leaping from the back corner's floor space where I was squatting, Deborah says, "Let's sing your Tall Giraffe." Could have blown me over with a feather.

Acapella. (Never done that once in my life before, let alone in front of hundreds of people...............)

I say I wish I had the book to show...... and up pops Rebecca (who I'd just met at Lois workshop in the morning) with a copy of my book. Then I look to my right and Sheila from Utah is sitting there & I happen to know that 'TG' is her personal fave. So they each come up on stage to offer assistance. We end up with a quartet, outta the clear blue.

Acapella. It works. Rebecca is fluent in sign language. It works.

From there I am thronged with people who want the book. I tell them that I have 3 remaining copies but they're in my hotel room & three of the participants walk me back to my Hilton campground to purchase those last 3 copies. Wow. Writing this out 10 days later still makes my head spin. Lois, Mar, Deborah all in the space of less than 24 hours. Kindness, consideration, inclusion, support. I've always known that I LOVE the children that we work with, but if truth be told, I also love my professional peers. This week I've had orders for Tall Giraffe from Wyoming, California and New Hapshire to name just a few. Thanks team!!