Okay, this was quite an event. Those of you who have read my book (Me, Myself & Bob), know that it starts with the somewhat cryptic sentence, “Evelyn Schauland was a fancy woman.” I then go on to tell the story of my father giving Evelyn Schauland, the very stylish mayor of my childhood town of Muscatine, IA, a ride in a hot air balloon as a publicity stunt, and accidentally dropping her into the muddy bank of the Mississippi river. It’s a fun story, and a good way to start a book.

I only remember meeting Mayor Schauland once in my childhood, probably 35 or 36 years ago. As I wrote the book, I assumed Mayor Schauland had probably passed away by then. So you can imagine my surprise when I got a letter in the mail with the return address “Evelyn Schauland, Muscatine, IA.”

At first I thought someone was playing a little joke on me, but upon further investigation I discovered the letter was, in fact, from Evelyn Schauland, still very much alive in her 90s, and inviting me to speak at the annual Salvation Army dinner in Muscatine. Well. How could you say ‘no’ to that? So last Friday I drove back to Muscatine, IA to speak at the local country club, to a crowd filled with faces from my childhood, including one very fancy former mayor. The event was great. Reconnecting with people I literally haven’t seen in 30 years was amazing. To prove it really happened, here is a picture of me with Evelyn Schauland. And, yes, she is STILL fancy, after all these years…