Empty Nest In The Midwest: Book Signing

Tim and I went to a book signing at one of our local Barnes & Noble bookstores last weekend.

The book is called "Call me Dad, Not Dude - The Sequel", and the author is a longtime friend of mine, Matt Keenan.

Matt writes a regular column for our local newspaper, The Kansas City Star. He is also an attorney in Kansas City.

I met Matt about 25 years ago when I was a very young single mom. I was entering a custody/child support battle with my oldest son Allen's dad. Since I didn't have money for a lawyer, I asked Kansas Legal-Aid to help me with my case.
Kansas Legal -Aid accepted my case, and gave me a phone number for law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon. A few weeks later I went in for my appointment.
That's when I met Matt. He was a young attorney, probably fresh out of Law School. Of course, the law firm gives the pro-bono (free) cases to their newest lawyers!

Matt did a great job for me with my custody/ child support case. And after that, he continued to help me whenever I needed him. I mean he REALLY CONTINUED TO HELP ME WHENEVER I NEEDED HIM. For free.

I guess you could say he took me under his wing......he called me often to ask how I was, and to see if I needed something (I usually did). And his help went far beyond legal help. I can remember Matt buying my babys diapers when I couldn't afford them, several times. Once he delivered Christmas presents to my house.

He went with me twice to look for a new apartment or house to live in to make sure the place was a decent place to live (remember I was young). A few times he sent someone from his office to give me a ride to the doctor, and once his "driver" took me to a drugstore to buy shampoo/soap, etc.... that I needed, and Matt paid the bill.

There were also a few times over the years he gave me furniture when he and his wife had things they didn't need anymore. By the way, Attorneys have really good "used" stuff!

The last time Matt helped me was in 1995, when he had my last name legally changed for me (again for free).

After that, I didn't see or talk to him until last year. Matt was busy being a big attorney, and I was raising my family. Last year, I looked him up and sent him an email. I just said Hello, and thanked him for all he had done for me for so many years. I wanted him to know how much I appreciated him.

We met for lunch a few months ago and caught up on 15 years worth of news. It was so great to see him again!
He was surprised to hear I have my Private Investigators license, and he asked me if I would be interested in doing some P.I. work for their firm.

So maybe now I can use my P.I. skills and repay some of my "debt" by helping Matt, that would be really nice!

At Matt's book signing December 10th: