One of the unexpected joys of being an author is finding a fan out there in the world randomly. Not at a conference or a lecture, but when you’re living your everyday life and stumble upon a reader. Here is one of those moments that I’ll always remember.

We were at my son’s baseball game when an officer approached the stands. I was sitting in the front row near the middle, when she walked up to the woman seated at the end. 

“I found a wallet in the parking lot,” she said. “I thought it might belong to one of the parents here.”

The officer opened the wallet to look for identification. “It belongs to Robert Pantley,” she said. 

“Yep! It’s the coach,” said the parent. “But his wife is right there.” She looked over and called to me, “Elizabeth!”

I walked over and the officer looked me in the eye with an intense stare. “You’re Elizabeth Pantley, the author! Your no-cry sleep book saved my life when my baby was a newborn and I was a sleep-deprived zombie. I still follow your blog. I’m so excited to meet you! Thanks for everything you do.”

The officer sat in the stands with me for a while. I told her all about my fiction series books. We watched my son play baseball and had a great time talking about our families.

P.S.  No, that’s not actually me or her in the graphic!