Something at work recently came about because a new employee
joined the ranks and he has decided we all need a little motivation and morale “boostering.”
I applaud him for that. What he has started in his short time here is called “Accomplishments.”
He has asked everyone that works here – he even included the likes of me and my
cohorts that fall under the ‘staff’ category
- which is rather shocking actually - to send him something we are proud of.
At first I thought he meant merely ‘academic’ since we all
are in Higher Ed, but then I found out he meant ANY
accomplishment! Anything at all that we consider a great thing - that is what he
wants to know about.
It took me a while, but I finally realized that I actually had an accomplishment! A real live honest to God accomplishment.
THE BOOK!
But precious few knew about it! I mean how could they know if it took me so long to remember
it myself?! I suppose ‘remember’ is a bad word. It is more that the accomplishment hasn’t exploded onto the
book scene and become a best seller, so I have relegated it to the files in my
grey matter that hold only thoughts and ideas that could
have funded my retirement – but haven’t
yet.
Unfortunately, that file is full but it is growing many cobwebs and has a lot
of dust on it.
Nevertheless, this new PR campaign going on at my place of work was
the perfect opportunity to get rid of
some of the dust & spiders!
If I flaunted my accomplishment campus wide – maybe a few
people would tell a few people and those people would tell a few people and
those people would tell a few people and – well you get the idea.
I live in a small town and word spreads like blood at a
crime scene. (Too graphic?)
I decided rather than just tell the Accomplishment Master of
this book – I would show him. I
have yet to meet a person that doesn’t want to buy the book after they have actually read the book! (I feel retirement approaching!)
So today, I brought the book my sister & I wrote (she
did most of the work – I am really just the silent funding partner) and gave it
to him with a note:
"Rather than just tell you about my “accomplishment,” I thought I
would actually give you a copy of my accomplishment. This book was a long time
coming. My sister and I are the authors. Years ago when our children were still young we used to get
together for Thanksgiving. We didn’t live close to each other, so it was always
a real treat and full of crazy. As we were sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner,
we asked the kids to say something they were thankful for (because we are a crazy
& a partially cliché type of family). One of the 6 kids said they were thankful for ‘chipmunks’ to be
silly – and that is how the jokes started. That was probably 20 years ago, but
my sister (Auntie) and I (Auntie) never let go of the idea to publish those
jokes in a book. My sister’s second daughter, Amy, grew up to be an amazing
artist (and tattoo artist) so she did the artwork. It is a family operation and all in all we love the book.
I thought maybe you could have a laugh over the Christmas break by reading it
(I hope over & over) with your children. Be sure to tell or show your
friends!
There is another book in the works. Maybe one day we will have a
best seller! J
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
P.S. You can buy them on Amazon, at the Bookshelf in town, and in
the Spirit Shop if you want more of them for your friends. I can sell you
some at discount out of my trunk. ;)"
I cannot confirm or deny that how this book started, as told in the note above, is the absolute truth. But I do know that it was Thanksgiving (I think), we were around a table, and we make up these jokes.
While I was writing that note, I realized I had never written
about it on my blog. So here it is!
Link is below! Buy one or two or twelve or 100!!! Remember, it is for my retirement!
You can also buy it at the local bookstore in my town and my
universities Spirit Shop – and out of my trunk (I can give you a deal)!
