May 11, 2011
Today is day 1 of a 5-day adventure embarked upon by me and my 25-year-old daughter, Jessica. Now I’m not saying that she and I are alike, but I have heard that some family members have been taking bets on when our first “issue” will be – so not funny to pick the airport, Dad!
As it turns out we had a great time, even with our one “issue” while walking to dinner, but all was well before we even reached the restaurant, plus we put on a good show for some Valet Employees on the way!
One of the best and most memorable highlights was attending a cocktail party hosted by a conglomerate of magazine companies, many of whom in attendance were well known quilters, amongst them Marianne Fons, co-editor in Chief of Fons & Porter Love of Quilting Magazine, author of many best-selling quilting books and co-host of over 100 how-to quilting episodes on Public Television. Now, to prepare Jessica for our trip, I gave her plenty of bios on various quilters we could encounter on our trip - well keep reading and you can guess if she read them…
By nature, I am a little shy at parties like these before I warm up and then I am fine, so Jess, my little social butterfly gave me a few pointers - such as a good conversation starter is to compliment the person on an item of clothing or jewelry. About 2 seconds after she gave me said sage advice, along came Marianne, who I had said that I wanted to meet.
Here’s the set up:
Jessica is standing directly across from Marianne and I am in between them with another friend, Colleen, across from me. Cool as a cucumber Jess, immediately compliments Marianne on her earrings and they begin a little chit chat about jewelry they love and feel bare without including Jessica’s rendition of how she lost and then found her Tiffany bracelet at TSA screening on the way to Salt Lake City. Now, at this point Marianne doesn’t know me, Jess or Colleen from any other Josie Quilter, until...wait for it…Jess leans in and asks in her charming, upbeat voice, “So, what is it that you do?” Now asking this question to Marianne Fons is equivalent to asking Dario Fanchetti what he’s doing at the racetrack.
This is where Marianne demonstrates the down-to-earth, classy, kind-hearted person that she is and simply replies that she is the co-editor in Chief of Fons & Porter’s Love of Quilting and has hosted a quilt related show on PBS for 15 years. She goes on to say how lovely it is to see young people, such as Jess, interested in the quilting industry and all it has to offer from the traditionalist quilts to modern art quilts and how there is room for both in the industry. After Colleen jokingly told Marianne, “Don’t worry, we’ll slap her later”, we all went on to talk about many subjects including George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez movies!
I will measure this trip not only by the business accomplished, but also by having this unique opportunity to spend valuable time with my daughter and seeing firsthand the truly accomplished lady she has become. From our video ad shoot for QNNtv with Jodie Davis (check back for an upcoming blog about this encounter!), to the unforgettable cocktail conversation with Marianne, Jessica and I accomplished our goals and beyond, as well as making some pretty good memories – oh and a great blog story too!
