Two years ago, when my Mom started talking about a possible trip to New Orleans with her two girls for her cousin’s 50th wedding anniversary, I was simply excited to see family and experience the city as an adult. My last visit there was at age 12, and I knew my adult self would take in details my pre-teen eyes had not.
Mostly, we let Mom plan the trip, since she knew details of the family events we would attend. But about a week before we were to leave, my sister, Camille, started doing a little research of her own, knowing we’d have a day or so to do as we pleased in the city. When she mentioned that three prominent children’s authors would be in the city the very day we’d planned to hang out there, the whole trip took on a different and exciting color!
As it turned out, Mom, who would have loved this piece of our journey as well, was unable to accompany us due to a health scare back home. Thus, in the final hours, it became a sisterly-duo adventure. And I’d say our Sunday in New Orleans was the most empowering day of our five-day journey.
Where there’s a will there’s a way. We were intent on finding our way to Octavia Books, where, we were promised, three highly regarded children’s authors – Tomie DePaola, Richard Peck and Kate DiCamillo — would be visiting.
Winding our way through the streets, sizing up street signs, we finally came upon the one that told us we were close.
And there it was! We’d done it!
All on our own, two gals from the humble state of North Dakota had found their way through the city in a rental car, and all the way to Uptown. Incredibly, I even recognized a neighborhood where we’d dined for lunch all those years ago!
Timing-wise, it looked like we’d meet Tomie first, and this indeed came to pass. I discovered him alone in his chair, readying for his signing, and was first in line to give him a big ol’ “Hello!” from the Peace Garden State.
Mr. Peck was there at the same time.
Both were in town for a library convention, which had brought in thousands of librarians from across the United States, as well as various presenters of a literary lean.
I still marvel at the blessing of it all. What were the chances things would line up like this? Camille has always been an avid reader and a talented writer as well. So there was no argument as to our hoped-for destination. We couldn’t have planned the conjunction of our visits better if we’d tried! (Credit goes to Camille for her initiative in finding out about the event!)
With time to kill in between the first round and the promised meeting with Kate, we strolled along the sidewalks of Uptown until we came to a bistro that was both open (it was Sunday; some were closed) and looked promising.
Nice patio, but not for us, thank you.
With sweat dripping down our backs, we were more than relieved to find reprieve in this charming place.
It was a lovely lunch.
Even the bathroom had character.
Heading back to the bookstore, we came upon some more colorful sights, including this street car adorned with bottle caps.
Here’s the real one we trailed on our way to our destination:
When we got back to the bookstore, one store attendant told us we’d missed Kate; she’d just left. Another said, no, she wasn’t gone just yet. Camille was more optimistic than I, but we did in fact find her not far from the store entrance being escorted to another event. Since we’d been so looking forward to seeing Kate, Camille and I got a little bold and cornered her on the way out. (Actually, she was quite sweet about the whole thing.) She signed our books and after a short chat, said a cheerful goodbye. It wasn’t until a while later that we realized, in the excitement of trying to find her, we’d missed a photo opportunity.
Slightly forlorn, but not completely deterred from making the most of our day, we headed next to the Ogden Museum, where a jazz exhibit had caught the attention of my music-teacher sister.
After we’d gotten our fill of history, both past and present, we added our admission sticker to the pole where others before had done the same (a different color for each day of the week).
There were more wonderful moments in our day, but our foray with the children’s authors in a New Orleans bookstore in Uptown was a special part of it; I’ll be forever grateful for the privilege of having chatted with all three of them for a short while. Really, the only disappointments in the day were the trouble we experienced in finding our way out of the city (you can get in but you can’t get out apparently) and the missed photo opp with Ms. DiCamillo.
But then, surprise of all surprises, at the airport, I was walking in the halls waiting for our flight and brushed past a tiny gal who looked unlike…! It was her, and she was just as gracious as before. The second-chance photo with Kate DiCamillo became a reality; the trip was complete.
She even rode on our plane back to Minneapolis, her current place of residence. As we made our way through the first-class section, I couldn’t help but notice her opening a brand-new book. Though I couldn’t make out the title, I smiled as I noticed her reading the acknowledgements at the back before digging in. This is something I also do. It may be an author thing – having perhaps as great an appreciation for and curiosity about the process of book-making as the story itself.
I can’t help but think back to our younger years when Camille and I would while away the winter months curled up with a captivating book. We both appreciated good literature and the written word. We used to ponder our someday-adult lives and what it might be like, but back then we never could have dreamed up a day such as this.
A sweet story, sweetly told. Thanks, Roxane.
Roxane,
Reading your post was a great inspiration! How wonderful to have a great trip with your sister along with meeting fellow authors! May the memories inspire you! Thanks for sharing!
Tomie de Paola is a family favorite of ours. How wonderful to meet him.
Michael, thanks for reading!
And you too, Kim. I’m happy to see you again. 🙂
Deanna, it was such an honor to meet Tomie. I consider him one of the best among the best. He’s made a great contribution to the field of children’s literature!
Simply a fantastic day.
Ooo, what a fun day! And how fun that you got to share it with your sister.
But I can’t even imagine being there in the summer heat– it was hot enough in October.
Love that city. 🙂