Claim to Fame

We had a big event in our little town of Raymond last week. Famous children's author Robert Munsch, a Canadian, came to town and we were all invited to attend a reading for free! R.M. has written a lot of books. If truth be told, I don't even really like most of them. They kind of make adults look like idiots and there is a lot of "yelling" in them. But the stories are preposterous, the illustrations are funny, and all the kids seem to love them. Even though I don't much like his books and mentioned that to others in the past, I put my own personal reservations aside and toted all my boys to the high school gym an hour early so we could get some good seats (with backs--thank heavens) and enjoy the show. I think it funny that I don't own a single R.M. book and never want to (well, maybe his book I'll Love You Forever) but yet I was thrilled and excited to tell everyone I knew that he came to our little town and that my kids were there to see him. I remember a similar feeling when I lived in Michigan for a summer and Chris O'Donnell was spotted in a grocery store by some of my friends. I had no clue who he was at first (actor, Robin in Batman) but I was very excited to tell everyone that Chris O'Donnell was at large just a few blocks away! This is the only good picture I got of him. He is reading a story these children wrote with their parents (they won a competition, which is why he came to Raymond). He told all of his stories without any props, of course.



So, some of the snapshot moments that occurred during the wait for Robert Munsch:

Tommy kept saying very distinctly, "Mom, where is Robert Mmmmunsch? I want to see Robert Munsch. Is Robert Munsch going to tell us a story?"



Owen spotted the famous man himself doing his own sound check and placing the microphone, etc. I thought it looked like him, but he was wearing a ridiculous flight suit-type outfit and no one down on the floor was acting like he was anyone special, and I just didn't think famous people allowed themselves to be seen before a show. Owen said it really was him, and when I realized he was right, I felt embarrassed, like, should we pretend we don't see him so that we can give him a really big welcome out when he does make his grand entrance?

All the boys were wrestling on the seats and Owen kept asking to be allowed to go down with all his friends--he could literally see almost every kid in his kindergarten class down below with their families--and I kept saying no.

When The Man did come out, we all gave him a huge welcome and Thomas then asked for the next ten minutes, "Mom, is THAT Robert Mmmmunsch?" (He removed the flight suit for the show, by the way.)

R.M. read "I'll Love you Forever" and I finally got to hear the tune for that song. I enjoyed that reading. I almost cried during it, but then Thomas got stuck in the fold-up seat and started complaining loudly and George whacked me in the eyeball and blinded me for the next 7 hours, so real life was enough to convince me that I will be happy to love my kids as they grow up, move away, and have their own kids. :-)


All told it was a great experience and hopefully the boys can remember hearing a real author tell his own stories, and it can be a happy memory for all of us. In fact, although it has been over a week now since this famous event, Thomas seems to remember it really well. Tonight at dinner, out of the blue, he turned to James and said, "Daddy, you bee-forgot to come with us to hear Robert Munsch! He told some really good stories!"