Scene: Stephanie Klein in Miami

I can’t remember how I first stumbled across Greek Tragedy, a blog written by Stephanie Klein. But I check in on it frequently – she’s about my age, a fellow Mom of young twins, and a talented writer. And last week I read that she was coming to a Miami bookstore on a promotional tour and asked for a local volunteer who could “fondle chocolate and guests.”

Spend an evening surrounded by books and chocolate?  .... a hardship, but I’ll make the sacrifice.

So Stephanie’s husband, Phil, had chocolate overnighted to me. What kind of chocolate would you have FedExed to a book signing? I read the return address and looked up the web site.

Oh yeah, that kind of chocolate. (It’s a whole post unto itself - next week!)

I just stuck the entire FedEx box straight into the fridge – if I had opened it, there might not have been any left for the guests.

I headed off to Books and Books in Coral Gables that night armed with said chocolate, a cutting board, and two knives. Stephanie arrived and everyone schmoozed a while – oohing and ahhing over the chocolate - then she read excerpts from her latest book: Moose – A Memoir of Fat Camp. The story begins when her OB/GYN told her she needed to gain 50 pounds during her pregnancy for the health of her babies... bringing back issues/memories of being an obese child.

It was a fun evening – Stephanie is funny, authentic, and inspiring. And gracious – she thanked me several times for helping. When she started signing books at the end, I found her Mom and explained that I was leaving and needed to take the cutting board/knives with me and asked her if I could have the kitchen wrap up the small bit of remaining chocolate for Stephanie to take. “Oh no, why don’t you just take it?” she said.

See, people? See what I must suffer for the sake of a MIRL?!