38: Celebrate Good Times ...

I spent a peaceful day at work; with no serious deadlines this week, I spent much of my day organizing many of my projects. I was in such a groove that I took a late lunch--I stepped out around 1:30. I came home and ate a modest turkey-and-cheese sandwich.

Back at work, I was happily sailing through a smooth day, and before I knew it, I was headed out.

I figured we'd do something quick and easy for dinner. Usually when hubby cooks, he tells me ahead of time. I stepped in the house and was--as usual--tackled by my children. Hubby greeted me with a warm and happy hug. "Guess what?" he asked me.

"What?"

"Your story came," he said.



I was thrilled. I had been waiting for a few weeks to see it. My favorite part of writing is seeing the final product--not necessarily seeing my words in print; but seeing what production has done with the layout. It's always a nice surprise. What's funny is that I was more excited about the font they used for the deck (in the title) than I was about anything else. I guess this editor stuff is really rubbing off on me:-)

He handed me the magazine and I quickly flipped through the pages until I reached my story. "This looks SO GOOD!" I said to hubby. "They did such a great job!"

I was pleased. So--the first thing I always do is look at the overall package of my pieces. And the other thing I do--or don't do--is I never read my stories. Isn't that funny? I usually read the final copy before it goes to press. But, I never read the actual story in print.

"The check was $300 more than we expected, though. What's up with that?"

I flipped through a few more pages and figured out what had happened: "They ran that other story ... that one they had to hold (almost a full year ago). Yes!" This meant that we could have that "celebration" dinner we had promised we would have if hubby got "the call."

We called grandma and she was available to watch the three oldest kids. (Not the baby because there was no nursery at her church.)

So, tonight, instead of eating a can of soup (my original dinner plans), hubby and I went to Bonefish, where we celebrated "the call", my Tebow piece in print, a fat check ... and each other.

Hubby and I split a dish of shrimp fettuccine ...

Baby R. was such a good boy! Quiet the whole time.

Good times ... celebrating ... together.

Oh, and the cell phones are back on. Woo-hoo for freelance checks!