Number 918
Earlier in October, my friend reached out to me to see if I would be interested in seeing a Food Network personality we both follow. The evening would be complete with a book signing and then a couple hours of listening to her story and answering questions. Even though it was almost ninety minutes away and on a weeknight, I was excited to go.
Four girlfriends in all were committed to attend the event, however, due to the proximity of where we live/work, we had to take two cars. We decided to meet at a nearby restaurant for dinner prior to the event.
As we headed to the hall, parking was a nightmare, but we knew that going in. I pulled into a nearby church and decided to take a chance; I didn’t see any signs saying I couldn’t park. As we walked on the college campus and to the hall the event was being held at, I was surprised at the small number of people outside waiting to get inside.
Upon entering and inspecting my ticket prior to handing it over to the woman taking tickets, I had remembered my friend commenting on having assigned seating. I couldn’t see any seat or row number, and the only number I noticed was 918. The woman heard me mention the lack of seat/row number to my friend and she commented, “The number listed is your signing number.” Signing number, I thought….hmmm.
Once we found sparse open seating in the balcony, the hall was full, as everyone around me were thumbing through the cookbook they received at the door. Patiently, we waited and thumbed through the book as well.
Shortly after, a woman came on stage and explained how the evening would go, Ree Drummond would come on stage and answer three questions before she was ushered into another room to sign the cookbook. The audience would be released fifty people at a time to get their book signed, and since there were more than nine hundred people waiting, to please be patient. LOL…..WHAT?
My friends and I were numbers 917-920…..we were probably the last group to be called….HA! OK, let’s see how long it will take for numbers 1-50. About fifteen minutes later they called the next 25. At this rate we would be there late into the night! Seriously, all we could do was laugh.
We decided not to wait several hours and opted to head back home. At least we were able to hear her answer a few questions, and see her in person. On the upside, four girlfriends enjoyed a fun dinner together, good parking, a new cookbook on an unseasonably warm November evening, and just going with the flow. As a result, number 918 would be getting home at a decent hour.