To my writing bootcamp and to Mom's

This is a two-week letter.

Monday October 16^th Tom drove me to Little Rock and I caught a flight to my Writer’s conference. The flight was pretty uneventful… which is a good thing. I had a close connection, so I really hustled from one side of the Atlanta airport to the other. It was with great sadness that I had to rush past Five Guys without stopping for a burger.

Then for the first time I tried Uber. It was a little confusing. For some reason, they called an Uber LX, which was larger and more expensive. I asked the guy what to do… and he grumbled just a little bit and said he’d take me for the lower fare. So I gave him a nice tip.

My sweet brother Steve used his Marriott Gold status to get me concierge status. So I could go to the concierge lounge for breakfast and a light supper… and chocolate chip cookies. (but they weren’t as good as Tom’s.)

Tuesday, I had a pre-conference women’s event from 9am to 5pm. It was very insightful and on personal growth as much as how to copywrite.

I had an article I wanted to get done for a new client. She seemed pretty demanding and a little condescending, but I thought I’d give her another article and another effort to see if thing might improve. I worked on that on and off, and had some of my copywriting friends critique it.

My roommate was from San Diego and a very easy person to room with. She takes her church- The Christian Scientists- to the Marine recruits at San Diego and loves it! So we had that in common as Tom and I had done that at Ft. Benning.

The conference was excellent as usual. It was fun to see so many friends there and see people that were beginning when I first came now moving up and gaining prestigious awards. I had lunch with a writer there for the first time- a nice young girl—maybe early 20’s and her sister, a graphic artist. It was delightful to see her win a spec challenge the next day! I ran across Clayton Makepeace several times (see photo below) and he graciously gave me some advice on the promo I'm working on.

I was supposed to meet with Wayne from Eagle Publishing. I’d worked with him on a little project years ago. And at that time, he was only interested in long form sales letters. I decided I really don’t like doing those. So I wasn’t sure we’d have much to talk about. But I finally met up with him at Job Fair and he was eager to have me work on some reports, follow-ups and other shorter pieces! Several other job fair booths also seemed interested. I sent out samples and we’ll see where it goes.

 It rained off and on while I was there. It didn’t much matter because I was staying in the hotel where the event was. However one morning I decided to go to the beach for the 7am meditation. As I stepped on the beach I felt a few scattered drops. As we began, the drizzle increased to a gentle rain. At first I was thinking, “Oh, I’m one with nature. I can enjoy the rain.” But the rain didn’t let up. It increased. I finally decided I was not meditating, I was thinking about getting wet! I picked up my mat and headed back to the hotel, walking through the lobby looking like a drowned rat. Fortunately, I had not worn clothes I planned to wear to the meetings. A little blow drying, and I was ready for the day. this is the beach view from my window.

Saturday, I caught a direct flight from Florida to LAX. I was one tired puppy by then. Up too late talking, up too early to get to all the sessions. (Actually, this year I skipped all the 7AM sessions and just started with the 8am ones.) The evening sessions finished about 9pm. So they were LONG days! Which led to sleeping most of the five hours on the airplane.

Sally picked me up. And rested from my nap, I stayed up and visited with her and Steve, far to late. We went to their church on Sunday. Steve English had recently been released from being bishop, so he and Sally were able to sit together. We stopped at the mortuary to look at Uncle Otto Walter’s old desk. It’s a great piece of furniture!

 In the afternoon, we drove down to Mom’s. Cynthia and Jim came over and we had a great dinner.  I love my family!

Mom had been feeling really tired and puny the week or so before I arrived. She seems to be gaining energy. But it may be an illusion. Perhaps she will crash after I leave. I try not to tire her out, but it’s a balance between asking what she needs and being respectful of her decisions to be as independent as possible.

Most of the week, I’ve been getting up about 5:30 and working for a few hours until Mom gets up. She decided to have her aids come even while I was here, so I got to meet Vicky and Maria. I can understand why Mom likes Vicky better. She seems to keep busy and is more pro-active. Maria waits to be instructed. I think perhaps she’s afraid of doing something wrong.

Monday night I went with Cynthia and Jim to the California Club activity. Cynthia is president this year. It’s a fun group of people who like to dance and eat. This time we had lobster and we also had Elvis come to entertain us. He had good moves and a nice voice on the slower songs. People dressed up—sort of a fancy Halloween theme. I wore black pants and a spangly top. And Cynthia completed my attire with a “BOO” headband. Of course we needed a photo with Elvis. Note Cynthia's cute wich hat.

Tuesday, we went and got Mom’s hair cut. Wednesday we went to look at fabric and see if a place could fix the saggy chair. We also checked out microwaves, since mom needs a new, quieter one. Then we needed to see about installation. So she called her handyman Dave. He quoted an outrageous price for the combination of chair fixing and microwave installation: $1150. And he wouldn’t break them apart. So I googled upholstery and furniture repair and found a place in Santa Ana. They said they thought the chair could be fixed without needing to be reupholstered.

Thursday Cynthia came over and we hoisted the chair into the car and drove to Santa Ana. The guy was very nice. He thought it could be fixed for $50, no upholstery needed. Could we pick it up tomorrow?

Friday I went to the temple. It was lovely to be in the temple. I was able to do on endowment and two initiatory. Then I went to Santa Ana and picked up the chair. It was firmer. He did a good job. There was an upholstery fabric store next door to the chair guy… so I had to go in and take a look. Did I want cow hides to upholster my car seats? Or Naugahyde? Or Ultrasuede? I did find some lovely fabrics and one I thought would look good on the gold chair that has deteriorating upholstery. So, I bought it. We’ll see if it will fit into the suitcase.

I connected with some of the clients I met at bootcamp and I have an appointment to speak with one on Monday or Tuesday. I also heard back from the client I’d written an article for saying this article might work, if I could fix a whole bunch of things. I’ll fix the things, but then I’m firing her as a client. I sensed too much condescension in her email. I was invited to write a letter to my younger self for the Titanidies group.  This was the photo I used with it.  Man, I married well. what a cutie!

In the afternoon, Mom and I went shopping at a new vegetable store… supposedly better than Jordan Market. It was nice. But we didn’t buy a lot. We made up for that by going out to dinner.

Sunday Sally and Steve came down and we went to church together. Mom and Cynthia and Jim went to church. Then we met at Cynthia’s house and Aunt Ruth and her daughter Sherrill and husband Roger joined us for lunch.  It was a Walter Jr. Donop commemorative meal. We spent time talking about him. Sally brought some of his memorabilia down and shared it. He had saved every report card. He had the bill from the hospital stay when he was born.  Seven days: $73.

We had a tasty lunch of salads and cold cuts. Jim made his famous New York cheese cake for dessert. Afterwards, Sally came back to Mom’s house and we talked about cryptocurrencies for a while.