Time Flies When You Are Having Fun

Has it been a year already?  A year ago today I was sipping champagne in my childhood church (yes, my mother informed me already that I was going to hell-but at least I've got 4 of my very best friends and partners in crime going with me! ha ha) trying to calm my nerves, not because I was about to merge my life with this incredible, caring, gentle man FOREVER, but because about 200 pairs of eyes were about to look at me all at once and I have weak ankles, I was wearing heels, and I was wearing a very long, very gorgeous dress-it had disaster written all over it.  But lucky for me, I walked down that aisle without a hitch to the most amazing future that I honestly never really believe I would find.  Happy anniversary, babe.  I love you with all my heart! *muah*

Many of you know this story already, but most of you don't so I thought today would be a perfect day to share it... 

I had been racking my brain to get something special for Justin as a wedding present.  In general, guys are hard to shop for.  But for me, it’s especially hard.  I don’t have any brothers so I’m not sure what to get when it comes to guys gifts, and Justin usually gets things for himself as he wants them so there normally isn’t anything that he wants and doesn’t have …unless it’s around Christmas or his birthday and his mom and I are both saying months in advance “you aren’t allowed to buy anything until after the holiday is over”.  

 Justin isn’t much of a reader, but the year we got married he had read at least 6 books in the same amount of months. He really got into the Monkeewrench series by PJ Tracy.  He had all the books except for the last one in the series, Shoot to Thrill.  He read it and loved it (checked it out for him at the library) but he never bought it for himself.  So my wheels started turning….what if I could track down a signed copy for him?  I went to the author’s website http://www.pjtracy.net/content/index.asp to see if their book tour for their new release would be coming to Dallas soon.  I discovered that they were only touring in Minnesota.  “That’s ok” I said.  “I’ll email them to see how I could buy a signed copy from them.”  Here is my email to them (PJ Tracy is a mother daughter duo author team):

“PJ and Traci,

 I wish I could start off by saying how much I love your books, but I’ve never read them.  I hear wonderful things from my fiancé, Justin, about them, though.  I’m an avid reader but haven’t been able to read much in the past year due to never ending wedding planning!  Justin, not much of a reader has read about 6 books already this year!  He has by far exceeded his total from last year already and it’s all thanks to you two wonderful authors!  He picked up Monkeewrench at the beginning of the year and couldn’t put it down.  It can literally take him a year to finish a 300 page book, but he sailed through Monkeewrench in no time.  He told me all about the copy cat game killings and the twist at the end when the killer was someone’s wife.  Every night after he would read, he would have to update me on what he had learned about the story.  Immediately, he bought Live Bait and Dead Run.  You can’t imagine how thrilled I was that he was reading!  When he wrapped those up, he read Snow Blind.  I remember him gasping one night because he had just read the part where the dead body had been disguised as a snowman!  After finishing the 4^th book, he still couldn’t get enough.  He was so excited when he found out there was a 5^th book!  I requested it from the library (he can’t because he doesn’t have a card, ha ha) and he read it during the 3 week check out period.  This was in record time for him! 

We are getting married on July 17^th and I would really love to give him a signed copy of Shoot to Thrill as a wedding present to complete his series collection.  I noticed on your website that you are only touring in Minnesota.  I live in Dallas, Texas and I was wondering if you had plans to make a stop down this way any time soon?  If not, is there some way that I can buy a signed copy from you?  He would just love it and would be genuinely surprised, not to mention how appreciative he would be!   I really would love to do this for him and hope there is a way to do so!

Thanks in advance for your help!  And as soon as the wedding is over, I’m going to jump on the Monkeewrench bandwagon myself!  I can’t wait to discover how wonderful the series is just like Justin has!

 Sincerely,

Jordan Smith”

A little time went by and I thought that my email had gone into PJ Tracy’s spam folder.  I started looking on ebay for signed books when I received this back from them:

“Dear Jordan,

Hi from PJ Tracy, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding!  You must be so excited (and so over-worked!)

We are thrilled to hear that Justin has enjoyed the MONKEEWRENCH series so much -- we work for our readers, and our goal is to give them the entertainment they deserve, so there's nothing better for us than hearing that we're doing our job.  And book #6 is in progress, so we might just have to have Jordan and Justin characters, if you have no objection.  Both great names we haven't used yet!

Please give us an address, and we will send you a signed copy of SHOOT TO THRILL -- a wedding gift from us.  Is there anything special you would like us to say?  Of course, we'll personalize it ourselves as well, in honor of your very special occasion. 

Best of luck to you!  Just remember to relax and take time for yourself during these next few weeks and know that everything will go off without a hitch.  And if there is a hitch, it will just become a humorous anecdote that you can share with your children and grand children! 

All best wishes to you both for a happy, healthy, beautiful future together,
PJ and T
p.s. feel free to send emails to my personal account, which I retrieve daily.”

Aaaahhhh! I was so excited to get this email!  I couldn’t believe it!  Not only were they agreeing to work with me on getting a signed copy, they are personalizing the message AND giving it to us! Within a couple of weeks, the book was in my hands.  I opened it up and read what they had written inside:

"To Jordan and Justin, Many congratulations on your marriage! Take care of one another and may you enjoy a lifetime of love together.  All Best Wishes! PJ Tracy"

Tears instantly filled my eyes.  I couldn't have believed that I actually pulled this one off.  It was really hard not to tell him, but I gave Justin the book on our way to the rehearsal dinner the night before our wedding.  He was so surprised!  He loved it!  I was so happy to see him so happy, and that was the entire point of the gift to begin with-to give him something that would really mean something to him, that he could appreciate a lifetime, and would bring him true joy.  Just the smile on his face told me that I had done my job.

Here's to many more years of happiness, love, and that smiling face.

Take care of one another...