Among Megan’s friends in Orlando, is a young woman named Jesse, who recently graduated from law school with an emphasis on environmental law. She joined us with Megan and a couple other friends on our recent trip to Cuba.
I would’ve never guessed that Jesse was a huge Indiana Jones fan. She never mentioned it, because she had no idea who she was traveling with. It wasn’t until a week later, when Megan visited Jesse at her home for the first time that she saw a corner of her room dedicated to Indy and it includes a collection of my novels, a photo of Harrison Ford, a nasty looking golden snake and other trinkets.
First Megan was surprised and said, “I think you’ve got one of my dad’s novels.” She looked closer, and said: ‘No, you’ve got all of them!”
“What! I was traveling with the Indiana Jones author and I didn’t know it?! I love The Seven Veils and Dance and the Giants, my two favorites.”
The only one of my Indiana Jones books that she didn’t have was The Last Crusade so I’m giving Megan a signed copy to pass on to her. I’ll include a comment about about Cuba, of course. Our latest adventure!
Ah, what an unexpected gift, magic is alive and well *smiles*
What is most appealing and lovable to me about Rob and Trish is that neither of them possesses an ounce of conceit or self-importance in spite of their many great successes. These are endearing and very rare characteristics in folks who have achievements and talents such as theirs. They share their day-to-day events with others and bring pleasure, knowledge, spiritual insights and fun into so many lives. My computer would be a pretty dull place without them!! I found them years ago after reading my first T.J. MacGregor novel, enjoyed it so much that I wrote her a letter of genuine appreciation, and lo and behold, I very soon received a gracious hand-written response from her! What a wonderful surprise! And the rest is history….
Agreed!
I have to echo everything you said, Connie. That’s the same way I got in touch with Rob way back in 1997 (Gosh, has it REALLY been 20 years already?). I bought the Indy novels in 1994 and positively *devoured* them all throughout junior high and high school; virtually reading each novel hundreds of times (I honestly lost count) to the point where I’d memorized them like movies, and could play scenes in my head whenever I wasn’t actually carrying a book.
I obtained Rob’s address from another Indy fan on the Web and wrote him a very heartfelt letter, citing my devotion to Indiana Jones and my appreciation for his incredible work on the novels, how he truly captured Indy’s character personified by Harrison Ford. I enclosed my favorite Indy novel – Seven Veils – and it was returned a few weeks later with Rob’s autograph and a note on the title page! I was thrilled beyond words, as it was my 2nd Indy autograph after The Man Himself, and I was just over the moon; truly the happiest Indy fan in the world. And we’ve maintained correspondence ever since! 🙂
How great is that! You would have thought that being brought together a connection and realisation would have followed while in Cuba.
How amazing a synchronicity for her! And she gets the last book, signed!
Yup! The whole thing is a weird synchro!
That is an awesome story!!! But I still can’t believe Jesse never made the connection. Surely at some point Megan must have said that her parents were both writers, and Jesse must have seen your photo in the author bio page at the back of each Indy novel (which mentions that you live in Florida). I would think that a prospective lawyer, of all people, would be more observant in putting clues together, thus realizing sooner that she was traveling with a famous writer! You might offer to sign her favorite Indy books, in addition to the free copy of Last Crusade! 🙂
She was floored!