Girls Write Out: THE CASE OF THE MISSING PANTS

Monday, September 26, 2011

I just got back from the most amazing conference ever. The 2011 American Christian Fiction Writers Conference was held in St Louis at the Hyatt Regency. Fabulous hotel and staff, by the way. From the left this is Denise Hunter, our agent Karen Solem, me, and fabo editor Ami McConnell.

Everywhere I turned, I saw writers being Jesus in the flesh there, from praying with us all for Di to sacrificially giving up a spot beside an agent or an editor for someone else. Loved being part of it!

But, ahem. Those of you in attendance may have noticed my handsome hubby in a tuxedo jacket, um, over jeans. It was not planned that way. He packed his entire tuxedo to wear. I'd just slipped into my fancy dress. I heard him call for me with more distress in his voice than I'd ever heard. "My pants aren't here," he said. I pooh-poohed the notion. I was sure I'd packed it. We looked EVERYWHERE. Those slacks were nowhere to be found.

He had nothing else to wear but jeans that he'd worked in at the church. They were covered in sawdust, but there was no option other than sweats. So we shook off the dust and wiped them down with a damp washcloth. He put them on and I had Ami and Becky, my editors from Nelson, tell him whether or not to wear a tie (the decision was not to) and he went with a ruffled shirt and tuxedo jacket over jeans. It was dark enough that no one seemed to pay any attention.

When we got home, the first thing we did was try to find those missing trousers. They weren't here. We checked everywhere. I was beginning to think someone had stolen his slacks. But why? My mystery brain evaluated and rejected every possible scenario. If someone was going to steal his trousers, wouldn't it be logical to take the entire suit? But something had to have happened to them.

Then Dave started the laundry. They were in the laundry bag. I distinctly remember him asking me if those black slacks were dirty. I said, "Yes, but I thought I put them in the bag. I must have missed." No, I didn't miss. The trousers fell off the hanger onto the floor and ended up in the laundry. We've had a good laugh all evening about it. And I'll always remember Dave in that very stylish getup. :)

How about you? Have you ever done something that made you blush?

Labels: ACFW Conference, St Louis Hyatt Regency

Colleen Coble
posted at 9:32 PM
Comments (6)

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6 Comments:

At 10:10 PM, Anonymous said...: LOL! that is hysterical! i wish i couldve gone this year, but i'll wait until next time. something embarrassing... ooh yeah! when i was about 10 or 11 i used to wear this really stretchy elastic 'gym' skirt. one day i was in front of four boys from our church (kids i grew up with) lecturing them about something naughty that they did (cant quite remember what) when all of a sudden they ran like their hair was on fire. i was confused until brian, the youngest one, pointed at the floor. "um... ruby, um... your skirt." i look down and there it was, in a heap on the floor. LOL! thankfully i had leggings under :)
At 8:49 AM, Mocha with Linda said...: Oh Colleen, y'all just need to come to Texas. People do stuff like that all the time on purpose! LOL Except he'd need a pair of boots, too. :-)
At 2:15 PM, Colleen Coble said...: that is hysterical, Ruby. Only I bet it was mortifying at the time. LOL

Linda, I wanted him to wear his boots but he'd left them at home. All he had were tennis shoes and shiny patents for the tux. LOL
At 3:04 PM, Jaime Wright said...: pictures :)?
At 12:33 AM, Unknown said...: Hello Ms Coble....
Just a note to tell you I have put the cover picture of The Lightkeeper's Daughter in my new blog post: The Haunted Light House
"tmac-traveltales@blogspot.com
At 10:00 AM, Pam Sanderlin said...: Hahaha. Good thing Dave isn't fazed by these sorts of things. You have to be careful for things falling off hangers and laundry lines and ending up in funny places.

One time I ducked under the laundry line right before leaving for an important appointment. When I got to the appointment (dressed in my best business suit) and took off my trench coat, I discovered I had a pair of pantyhose hanging around my neck, much to my great embarrassment (and the amusement of the execs I was meeting). I have no idea how I didn't notice they'd fallen off the line and ended up on me. I may have told you this story before - it was up there in the category of most embarrassing moments of my life. Haha.