Sarah Palin book signing in Tempe Arizona: the beauty of it all

The Sarah Palin event: as told by me!

This story is like a Cinderella story! The day weather was gorgeous! Sunny, partly cloudy and cool, which makes for perfect standing in line temperatures.

I got there right after dropping Noah and my BFF at work. It was such a peaceful, easy and exciting drive over until I got to the corner of Elliot just off t he freeway and could see the lot was full. I drove to the very back of the closed home furniture store and found a spot.

I quickly started walking to the front of the Costco store and was giddy at not seeing a big line! Wow, I would be up close and through the line quick and on to me long list of things to do!
Oh. Wait. That was until I got to the corner of the building. As I rounded the curb I saw all the news vans, the staff, the line, and how it double back and forth like waiting for Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland in July.
I kept walking, walking, past the porta-pottys and around the back of the receiving dock where the line again doubled up into an S shape, and there at the far corner right near where I parked was the end of the line.

I was horrified. Sarah Palin was signing from 11 am to 2pm, and by the looks of it, my spot in line was more like a 4 pm!
To add to the mix, the Costco staff Troy said that so far she was scheduled to sign 400 books and I’m in line at 954.

Sure, I felt sad, but I was determined to have my moment! 954 or not! Besides, surely someone in front of me would tire of the wait and leave, right?

I took a picture of the line in front of me and behind me, wow, that’s a lot of people. It was a mix of people in ages, races, incomes and countries even.

Grandmas, grandpas, kids, white collar, blue collar and yes even dog collar were in line for the book signing.

I began to notice who was around me and being the talker that I am, I wanted to know their names, where are they from, why are they here, what do they hope to gain from the experience and in general, what’s up!

At that moment the can of wonderful was opened and I became fast friends with the East coast crew that were among me. One young man from Germany on vacation, an Italian mom with her Korean daughter, Pennsylvania was represented with a nurse getting a book signed for her mom, a gentleman who was having a birthday, some elegant business ladies who were “grassrooting” for a “possibility” of Sarah running for office and an asian lady were all in line around me for their chance to get a moment with Sarah Palin.

Now we must talk about the book for a moment. I was in Costco just days before and forgot to buy the book, so I picked two up at Walmart to be ready.
Some people had t heir books but no receipt which caused a challenge and some showed up with no book hoping to get one as they came into the store.

The Costco in Tempe did an above the board job with grace, efficiency, courtesy and speed. The staff kept the line apprised of the details as they happened in side, were helpful with getting receipts for pre-purchased books that had none, and even provided large tubs of water for the guests waiting to see Sarah.

Sarah Palin arrived early, and started signing early. The line moved quickly and it just added to the excitement of being 954 in a line of over 1000 plus people.

We were informed that she would sign to 750 and then check the time schedule because she was to fly out immediately after the Tempe book signing to go to the next event.

So, after standing all morning laughing and making friends and trading life stories with the new “line family” the obvious was upon us. It was just time to use the bathroom and no one really wanted to use the portapotty, and to add to that, we were getting hungry.

This is when the young German vacationer went inside the store, leaving the line, to use the restroom and while he was gone, he caught some photos of the exit line from the book signing.
When he returned to us in the outside line and showed us the pictures, we were elated! Plus we had the ah-hah moment of “why didn’t we think of this sooner?”.

Quickly a plan was hatched to send in a reconnaissance group of camera holders/pictures takers so we could each at least get a semi-personal photo of Sarah signing.

That went well and I’m glad for the snapshot but I still want in! I want to meet her!
At this point, it is nearing one o’clock and I’m hungry and need the bathroom, so I leave the line and head on into the Tempe Costco store with Maria of Italy and her five year old Korean daughter Talia, plus our German vacationer to try our own snapshots.

What mayhem! Do you know how tall I am? Don’t ask, because the pictures I took show it.
The line was stopped outside because the first 750 were in, and the rest of us numbered to 1001, were left waiting to hear back from the staff about whether or not we would get in.

So I leisurely made my way about business, stopped and picked u p some hot dogs for the line family, got some pop, and then was meandering out when I heard the shouting. “Hurry up we’re going in!”

Over and over I could here the line family hollering and I began to run! I almost missed it over a hotdog with extra mustard!

Oh the excitement! The joy! The hooting and hollering! We were in and going to have our moment!

The next few minutes went by in a blur. The only clear moment was when the Costco manager looked at my books and their Walmart price stickers and informed me nervously that Mrs. Palin would only be signing Costco books. I said, “awesome, I’ll buy two!”.

The line kept moving, quickly by now and everyone around me that had been waiting patiently up til now began to feel a bit nervous.

Funny isn’t that? I mean, after all these years of working with celebrities and I’ve never really felt nervous or star struck and here I am about to meet the former governor of Alaska, vice presidential candidate, sharp shooter, salmon slayer , mom and fellow runner and I’m nervous?
You bet!

Now I am nearing the front. It’s time to hand over personal belongings, cameras ( yeah right) and only have the book, turned to page 3 where the title is and go quickly to the table where she is signing.

While Talia t he 5 year old was talking to Sarah Palin I snapped my “myspace” shots and asked the lady behind me to grab another for good measure and now it’s time.

There she is in a deep pink suit, hair half pulled up and trademark rimless glasses. She is more petite in person and more beautiful also.

I had so many questions, really important ones too, like: what kind of foundation do you use? Do you prefer powder bronzer over crème? Do you color your own hair or go to the salon now? What’s your 5 essential cosmetics you can’t live without?

These are the questions that the world ( beauty world?) breathes to know about!

Instead, I stood there, shook her hand and held it firmly and all I could say at that moment was,
“Mrs. Palin, you have my vote”. She gripped my hand firmly back and asked me my name. I said, “Cherelynn”, to which she answered “you’re beautiful”.

Wow, you would have thought Sophia Loren or Cher told me that because I melted and by the looks of the pictures I was blushing too.

And there you have it. I stood in line at the Tempe Arizona Costco off of Elliot and the I10 to have a book signed by Sarah Palin from 10 am to 2pm, and it was worth it.

On an end note, she stayed until the 1001st person got their book signed.

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