Fangirling

My favorite thing in the world is that exhilarating feeling of learning something (anything) new. As such, I watch a lot of random documentaries and click on any article I come across online that hints at the promise of novel information. It was this somewhat random casting about that, several years ago, led me to Ask a Mortician on YouTube. 

Said mortician, Caitlin Doughty, is a joy to watch and imparted some fascinating insights into the "death industry." I enjoyed learning from her so much that when her book, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes (& Other Lessons from the Crematory), came out last year, I went down to my local bookstore to pick it up and devoured it in one afternoon. I'm appreciative of her advocacy for the best possible death practices and her passion for educating the public about the death, burial and funeral processes. To sum up, I'm a huge fan. 

When I heard on the radio that the same local bookshop from which I had purchased her book last year was hosting her for a talk and signing session, I was excited to go. She gave a really lovely talk and answered people's questions for almost an hour (and probably would have continued had the bookstore employees not had a schedule to keep). Then it was time to get my book signed. 

Steve, with whom I had shared my favorite excerpts from the book as well as some of the YouTube videos, accompanied me and encouraged me to get a picture with the author. So, here I am, looking thoroughly embarrassed...

 ... because a few seconds before that picture was taken, I approached her table and, shyness and excitement simultaneously overcoming me, blurted out "I love everything you do!" And then I turned bright red. She was completely lovely to my dorky self and even wrote this in my book:

She even drew me a custom "Lisa" skull (the glasses are how you know it's me :-). 

She told the nice-sized crowd at her talk that she's working on another book, which I eagerly await. I'm grateful for her stories and the wonderful way she tells them, and I wish her all continued success. If only I could have said that. Oh well.