Yesterday I left my house at 5:45 a.m. to drive to my friend Karen Krotz’s house. She and her husband and I piled into their fully-loaded car and went to the Suwanee Town Park to set up Karen’s booth for the Run for the Dogs event.
Karen also happens to be my massage therapist. She’d brought along a folding tent-top to cover her booth area, a folding massage chair and all the necessary supplies to go along with that (like disposable face-cradle covers), a "sign-up-for-my-newsletter" list, clipboards, a donations bucket, a candy dish, folding table, tablecloth, business cards, pens, and most likely a dozen other things I’ve forgotten to list. Thank goodness they had a big trunk on their car.
I had agreed to help her by talking to people, showing them the sign-up sheet [“and you could win a free one-hour massage”], handing out her business cards, letting people know where her office was located [less than a mile from here], and asking if people wanted a 5-minute chair massage.
In return for amy help, she’d told me to bring a sample set of my books and bookmarks to hand out to folks.
We were all set up and ready to go in record time.
The event was designed to raise money for dog rescue groups, and featured a 5K run. Before that was a two-times-around-the-park Fun Run, which Karen and I (and her wonderful dog Lady) translated into a Fun Walk. Practically every person there had a dog. I was delighted at how well-behaved they all were (people and dogs alike <<<>>>). At the beginning Karen and I got green t-shirts, and Lady got a red bandanna. At the end of the walk, we all got medals to hang around our necks.
The cherry trees are in beautiful bloom, so we took a moment off to admire them.
An hour of so before it was time to pack everything up, stuff it in the car, take it home, and unload it all, something happened that I wanted to share with you. A man I’d never seen before stopped by our booth. He glanced at Karen’s sign, and then his eyes strayed to the pile of books on the end of the table. “Have you read all those books?” he asked me.
“I wrote all these books,” I said.
“Really? My wife loves your books. She has every one of them.”
I suggested he sign his wife up for Karen’s newsletter. I hope she wins the free massage!
The next time you attend an outdoor charity event like this, as you’re walking around admiring all the booths, chatting with the folks attending them, and signing up for (or possibly buying) something, remember my second paragraph up there, and understand how much work is involved. It was fun, but we all get home pooped.
BEEattitude for Day #530:
Blessed are those who plan parks and who plant flowers in them for us to enjoy, for they shall see their work bloom.
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The teeny details:
my books: http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.
my eBooks for Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart
2 comments:
Sounds like a fantastic day - weather looks beautiful up there too!
Yes, Petie, the weather was great. Not too cold (like it was last year) nor too hot either. I admit I was very happy for the tent cover. That sun got a bit strong by about 10 a.m.
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