Dorothy and Me

I recently returned home from the annual American Library Association conference, which was held this summer in Anaheim, CA. This was my first trip to Anaheim and I was pleasantly surprised that I was not overwhelmed by the exhausted families who seem to endlessly pour from the Disneyland Park, which was right across the street from our hotel. My friend & roommate, Jean, and I went to Disneyland on our first night in CA and we had a blast.

One of the best things about going to these conferences is meeting up with friends from all parts of the country. I was happy to run into my dear friend, Mrs. Dorothy Evans, on the first official day of the conference. Dorothy and I served on the 2007 Caldecott Award committee and we've been good friends since the very first day our committee met in San Antonio back in 2006. Dorothy retired from the Chicago Public Library last year. She worked at the library for 64 years and she spent over 50 of those years as a children's librarian. Dorothy is loved and respected by so many people and I'm honored to be one of her friends. Dorothy and Kevin have a nice relationship, too, and I think that she was a little disappointed when she learned that he didn't travel with me this year. Dorothy is an inspiration and I hope that I acquire a similar sense of grace as I grow into my own life.