"Can I Broaden Your Horizons?"

That is exactly what I said to my son Jared, a little after 1:30 today. I wanted to do something just for me today and I asked Jared if he wanted to go with me. He was not overly excited about the prospect, but decided to go with me.

My favorite novelist, Daniel Silva, was in town as part of his 33-city National Book Tour. He was scheduled to be at Murder By the Book at 3:00 P.M. I did not want to miss this opportunity. I had met Mr. Silva during a similar book signing about three years ago and I've read all of his books.

I printed up a map on how to get to the bookstore on Bissonnet and headed over to pick up Jared. Now what I'm going to tell you is so much like me. I left the map and directions in the printer! Called Patti and the way and had her verify what I believed to be the way to get there.

There were about 150 crowded into that small bookstore, half of them standing. We joined the throng. A few minutes after 3:00 Mr. Silva was introduced and kept us spell-bound for about 50 minutes. I don't know if Jared was spell-bound, but I thought the author did a great job of informing us about how the book was written and answering questions.

The event closed with the book signing. There was only one problem. I was #92! After the first 40 had their books signed, we found two vacant chairs and were finally able to sit down. Then we stood in line with those in the 90's to have our books signed.

After reading all of Silva's books and really digging into his major reoccurring character, Daniel Silva seems like a friend. When we were driving home, I realized that I was glad that I didn't skip the event and I was glad that Jared got to experience something in life that he had never tried...a book signing. I will not forget that even for a long time to come.