Nicholas Sparks

Today I received an early birthday present from Monte. He bought tickets for my mom and me to go to A Conversation With Nicholas Sparks. We had so much fun. My friend Beckie introduced me to his books, and I have not been able to put them down since. (Except when I was pregnant. Monte made me stop reading them then because I cried way too much.) I was so excited when I found out he was going to be here. He kind of told his story this morning, which was great. You can read some of it at nicholassparks.com, but it is much funnier when he tells it. One thing I found out that I haven't been able to find online, is that he and his wife opened a private high school. The main things they wanted were for it to be Christian and college prep. Then they added field trips. When a child graduates from this school they will have visited 6 continents and 23 countries. Plus there is an optional post graduation trip to Australia and New Zealand. (I think I am ready to go back to high school.) One thing I found out about him that really impressed me is that he coaches track every afternoon at a very, very poor school. If you ever want to see him, he's there in everyday at 3:30 in New Bern, North Carolina.