Catching Idle Butterflies

Day one

Flying never scares me. Quite the opposite except a slight flutter in my tummy when the plane takes off and lands.

But being anal about arriving on time to my destination, whether by car or plane, I do stress out about whether or not the plane leaves and arrives on time, that I'll make my connecting flight (it doesn't matter if I have a one hour layover or three, I still stress myself out).

When I came to the hotel, I deflated, exhausted even though total flight time (including a two-hour layover in Denver) 6 hours.

But once the conference began, I perked up. I don't know if it was due to being safely at my destination or watching and listening to Randall Atcheson pound on the grand piano and lead us all in song.

Randall is the only person to earn two masters degrees at Juliard, one in piano, and the other in organ.

When I say he pounded on the piano, I'm not exaggerating. The stage even shook as he played, that I wondered if it would hold up. He immersed himself so much in the music, he jumped to his feet a few times and sang his heart out. Even with his microphone far away, sitting way in the back I could hear him. He has a joy and love for the Lord that comes through both in his performance and his music that's infectious.

The keynote speaker for the night was Frank Peretti, and he had just as much passion for God. He's energetic and expressive, that even though many people looked tired, none fell asleep.

In fact, there was a lot of amen-ing going on. Mostly Frank talked about faith, what it is and what is not. He basically reiterated what I have only recently discovered about what to expect from God, and the path He leads us on is never easy.

In short, Frank's message was to trust God in all things, both when the car doesn't break down, as well as when it does.

Afterwards we all had the opportunity to sign up for our three editor/agent appointments. But with over 420 people, I'm glad I had more than three picked out. Of my first three choices, I got one.

Oh, well. I'll also be able to talk with my first choices during meals as they each host a table, assuming the table doesn't fill up before I get there. Even then, I'm not going to get excited. I've decided I'd rather learn something and make a few friends and connections than sell anything . . . at least that's how I feel at this moment. In an hour, who knows?

Since we had to provide our own supper last night, after the kickoff session ended (at 9:00pm) I invited the gal sitting next to me, Debbie from Austin Texas, to join me.

She has five kids "Two are in Heaven" as she put it, and has been separated from her husband for the last year. The way she described her life, even the painful parts (though she didn't get into detail, and I didn't ask) intrigued me. she said it so matter-of-fact as though this was what life was, so deal with it. I liked her attitude.

She also told me stories, hilarious stories, about her life spent on the farm, especially stupid animal antics which she incorporated into her novel.

Anyway, that was my adventure for yesterday.

Now I have to go and decide which workshop to attend for the next two days. Out of the eight, two of those seemed the most interesting and informative.

Maybe I'll just flip a coin.

Have a great Friday!