ROADTRIP

Originally Posted on 8/5/08

I have been awaiting this day for over a month. My favorite paperback writer, Sherrilyn Kenyon, was signing books last night at a special release party for new first hardback, Acheron. This book is said to be the hallmark of the "Dark Hunter" series.

I was blessed in recent days, to become reacquainted with a friend I lost touch with many months ago. And she was gracious enough to accompany me on this road trip. She admits now that she was hesitant, expecting another typical boring book signing - which this was not.

It's quiet a drive, and both of us being short on funds, had planned on making it an up and back in the same day. Just after lunch, we found the motivation to grab our things and head out. It was a nice drive up, broken with the occasional pee break and the "oh I forgot something - stop at Walmart moments.

I hadn't been in the Nashville downtown district since I was 19, and I didn't recognize a damn thing. It wasn't on the most pleasant of reasons for why my then roommate took me there. I will never complain about the confusion of Atlanta freeways our visitors must experience, as well as the lack of upkeep to roads here by the DOT. These were some confusing interchanges, and the pavement on the highways and freeways SUCKED! But with my handy GPS we found our destination in this strange town, after winding through several changes of freeway names and numbers.

Centennial park was beautiful, giving our own Piedmont park a fair run for the money! The location of the signing was at the Parthenon in the middle of the park - that impressed the shit outta this little Pagan!

We arrived promptly at 19:00 which was the scheduled start time, only to find a long line of nearly 150-200 other Sherrilyn Kenyon fans waiting patiently outside the doors in a line wound around the sidewalks outside. There were many folks dressed as characters from her books, goth girls, middle aged housewives, business professionals still in pantsuits from work, a few gay boys, a few lesbians, as well as numerous clueless spouses and partners obviously drug along for the ride.


I was truly surprised by the eclectic mix of folks and eye candy. The wait was for the event staff to separate the front end of the line into two parts. Those who had pre-ordered a book to be signed, and those of us who were unable to make the cut-off for the pre-order, but came in hopes of getting a signed copy on the eve of the national release. At the door, we paid for our books and got our passes to the party, and ended up with numbers 262 and 263, as all the pre-order folks were allowed to the front of the signing line.

We made our way up to the main floor only to discover that while waiting all this time, Mrs. Kenyon was only on #50 something. So we joined the long line for refreshments. We were delighted to learn that the event was being catered by THE MELTING POT!!! The table centerpiece was a 4ft chocolate fountain, with offerings of graham crackers, marshmallows, pretzels, and strawberries. And the strawberries were AWESOME! Well worth the hour wait!!!

In the refreshments hall, WARCHILD was playing. Warchild's front man is the author's brother, and the band is permanently linked to her books, as the band is favored by several characters. We hung out with the band, happy to learn that several members were from McDonough and Riverdale. HAD NO CLUE!!! We ALSO had no clue that Mrs. Kenyon is from RIVERDALE too!!! I actually remember that now from her Bio, but had forgotten.

While waiting for our group of numbers to be called, we made some new friends from all over, bullshitted and laughed, and exchanged e-mail addresses. We also made some discoveries about ourselves when talking to our new friends that the both of us seemed to avoid during this trip.

When the party started to wind down, due to the hours placed by the parks authority, we moved it outside the steps of the building, and Mrs. Kenyon continued to sign books, greet fans, and take pix.

We finally got our books signed around 1am, and drudged across the park, barefoot in the grass, to the car. As we left the city, we struck up a deep and meaningful conversation. We began to address things about ourselves that we both had lost along the ways of our lives, our hopes, our dreams, our wants, our needs, our fears, and things that fill the spaces in between.

About 30 miles down the road, we both said fuck-it, and agreed that it was too long of a drive back to Atlanta and agreed that a hotel was just the remedy. I fell into a deep medication induced slumber while awaiting my turn in the shower. And we both slept hard until housekeeping broke our dreams at 8am by barging in after only two knuckle taps on the door. Returning to sleep was unsuccessful for me, as always, when I have been startled awake. So we watched morning TV until checkout, and began our deliberately slow and relaxing ride home.

We chose to make several stops along the way to take some breathtaking photos of the natural surroundings, not being in any hurry to return to our everyday routines.

I would definitely have to say that this trip was the break we both needed, the time away from Atlanta we both needed, the time re-discovering our lost friendship we both needed, and the opportunity for open communication between the two of us we both needed.

In this last week I have felt so cleansed and blessed spiritually, enlightened really, and motivated domestically. I am just glad to have happiness lining the path ahead of me.


But I am even more blessed and happy to have my friend back. I have missed her!