Anne Lamott in Spokane

Last week, when I was in Spokane for Bloomsday, I saw an announcement in the Spokesman Review saying that Anne Lamott was coming to Spokane to read the following Saturday. Anne Lamott is one of the authors of books that accompanied me across the Prairies, who gave me so much food for thought about writing - in her book, Bird by Bird. She was a regular columnist for Salon, an on-line publication. And she wrote about mothering in a way that captured the joys and struggles - in her book, Operating Instructions.

So, when I woke up Friday morning with a diminished ability to talk (at that point not uttering it out loud that I may have a cold), I figured it was perfect - I may not be able to talk but I sure could listen!

So Saturday morning, I dug out my passport, again, and set off to Spokane. "Didn't I see you recently?" said the border guard. I shrugged my shoulders. With limited capacity to talk, I needed to be selective about when to talk. Border guards, though, are not into mysterious people. No matter how cute they are. Or coy. "Please open your trunk, ma'am." All in all, I would say, I went through the questioning fairly quickly.

When I arrived at Al's house, he wasn't home. This could mean two things: he wasn't expecting me and was out doing his Saturday stuff in Spokane, or he wasn't expecting me and he left town for the weekend. I guess that is actually only one thing - he wasn't expecting me. It made sense to me. I hadn't telephoned to tell him I was coming because as I mentioned before, I was conserving my talking.

I laid down for a nap.

A couple hours later Al came home, a little surprised because a red Honda was parked in his parking spot.

Here's what I learned this weekend: If you get laryngitis and you decide to go away for the weekend, (Understand this is all hypothetical - just friendly advice), and you have limited capacity to talk - perhaps it is best not to hang out with someone who may be (just MAY be) starting to lose their hearing. The result is that one may end up speaking more because everything has to be said at LEAST twice. Thankfully, Anne Lamott filled in the talking on Saturday evening.

I woke up this morning with less ability to talk. And a headache. I had 2 naps before I headed out on the road. And several pain killers.

Now this may be quite the picture of a weekend... Let me give you the real highlights - Anne Lamott was incredible - funny, witty, poignant - the best thing for a cold (that is, if you had one!).

Where are the photos? None. Zero. We sat in the 17th row. I can't prove that I stood in line for 40 minutes to get Anne to sign the book. I have no proof of my conversation with her. I actually have no proof that I went to Spokane. Except may be a border guard may vouch for me. Maybe.