A Couple of Interesting Reactions to The Girl in a Whirl [link]

To really understand this post, you'd have to know Jay. He's.... well.... kind of crazy sometimes. He was SO excited when my book came yesterday! He didn't see it until late last night when he finished teaching, and he couldn't wait to tell people about it today and show it around.

He took it to work this morning to show to his boss and the other people he works with. Remember that we live in Southern California. Unless you teach Institute, it's unlikely that very many of your co-workers are going to be LDS. But he just couldn't wait to show them my very LDS book written mostly for women!

Actually, lots of it is stuff anyone could relate to. But then there are parts about following living prophets, scriptures from the Book of Mormon, and phrases and expressions that only Latter-day Saints would understand. I guess it possibly could be a missionary tool of sorts, although I certainly never wrote it with that thought in mind. After Jay left for work, I started mentally reviewing how this or that might come across to someone who isn't a member of the Church. Anyway, Jay is kind of adorable when he does things like this, even though he's a little over-the-top every once in a while.

Okay, so he's showing The Girl in a Whirl to his very Catholic boss and telling him all about it. He had brought him bits and pieces of it before it came out. Now he randomly opens the book to whatever page comes up to show him an example of what else is in it. His boss takes the book out of Jay's hand and starts reading it out loud. He's reading the part called "Some Changes in the Organization," a sort of funny piece about what happens in the life of an "Organized Man" once he has children. Halfway through it, his boss, who has four children including a newborn baby, chokes up and can't read any more. He hands it to Jay so he can read the rest. When Jay finishes, his boss says,

"I need a copy of this book. No, two copies." Then he says, "Can I take this one home tonight to show my wife until you bring my books tomorrow?"

Next, one of Jay's co-workers who had been in the room at the time listening to all this says,

"Wow, Jay. Your wife needs to go on Oprah with this." Ha! Right... Like that's going to happen! Funny. Sweet, though.

Neither of these reactions were at all what I might have expected in either case. =o)