The Event of the Century Is A Smashing Success!

Well, I’m sure my vast audience of blog readers are dying to hear all about my book release party! (Except that they were both at the party and already know the details.) (Hi Rachael. Hi Shelley.)

Still, it was a glorious event. And even if this posting falls only on the eyes of some random Google searcher in Slicklizzard, Alabama looking for a good deal on patio furniture, the details of the Legends of the Plastic Chairs Official Book Release Party deserve to be broadcast.

I will begin by reiterating a line from my last posting: “I do not have conventional friends.”

That reality was never so apparent than between the hours of 2 and 5 PM at the Thai Swan Restaurant in Orange last Sunday.

What a joy it was for me to scan the crowd and observe the classical composer bent in rapt attention toward the vitamin salesman; the insurance investigator, the rocket scientist, and my neighbor Tom mixing it up over a joke; Neil the MySpace guy and the children’s theater director debating the best forum for a screenplay; the eighty-year-olds and the rock band guitar player scrutinizing Beth’s flawed emerald ring; the audiologist, the core sample driller, the bookkeeper, and the church choir director teasing the Brooklyn Italian over his tough guy accent. There was my old boss talking recipes with Aree the restaurant owner, my son Ryan flanked by two doe-eyed beauties who he thinks just want to be his friend, the software developer and her daughter, the amateur photographer who seemed to be everywhere at once. There was the shy, quiet one who stood aloof much of the time, the old friends who told funny stories about me, a couple of charming ex-husbands, and a best friend who flitted about like a beautiful social butterfly making sure no one was left out.

The weather was a perfect 73 degrees. Aree’s food was fabulous. I sold enough books to pay next month’s rent. The gathering was every bit as extraordinary as I had predicted.

My friends are an unconventional lot, and I love them all for it.