Sabine was thrilled when we broke the news to her, and actually had trouble sleeping the nights leading up to the big event.
The day finally arrived, we drove in to Boulder around 5:30, found parking, and hiked across the campus to stand in line.
Because the event was so popular, it was moved from Macky Auditorium to the much larger Coors Event Center (where the Buffs play basketball) which was good, since it meant more people got to see Jane Goodall speak, but bad because it meant we lost our assigned seats and had to just do first-come, first-serve. Fortunately, since we were some of the people who got the original Macky tickets, we got to go in first, and we got pretty good seats! All-told, there were apparently close to 9,000 people there.
Then we set to waiting some more. Sabine did a great job waiting, we read from her Jane Goodall book, and she played a little on the iPad. We also just did a lot of people-watching. The lecture began at 7:30 PM.
When it first began. Sabine was in awe.
Jane Goodall introducing herself in chimpanzee pant-hoots.
It was an amazing experience. She is a phenomenal speaker, very humble and energetic (for 81! She travels 300+ days a year, I am exhausted just thinking about that kind of schedule) and she started and ended with talk about chimpanzees, but in the middle she talked about the school shooting that morning, articles she just read about pending GMO legislation, (she strongly advocated labeling food and avoiding GMOs, her experience really makes her passionate about the interconnectedness of everything, and that altering our food sources in this way is playing with fire), she gently advocated vegetarianism, and promoted her school program, Roots and Shoots. (Click that link for more information on her program.)
A lot of it was over Sabine's head, but she kept asking what Jane Goodall was talking about, and I tried to explain as best I could. Sabine really tried to understand, and was patient and engaged through the whole talk.
Afterwards, there was a book signing. But my heart sank when I saw the line of 8,000+ people form quickly. It was already 9:00 PM. I told Sabine I would get her one of the little Mr. H (Jane Goodall's plush monkey that she brings with her on tour) that they were selling, and we would have to go home. Sabine was adamant that she wanted to stand in line to get her book signed. As a compromise, we snuck to the front of the line, just to peek at Jane Goodall. I took a picture of Sabine standing close to her, she was just star-struck, but a security guard came rushing over to tell me there were no pictures allowed.
(The illicit picture!)
He was pretty stern, and I apologized, I really didn't know that was the rule. He went on, and I was afraid he was going to make me delete it, but instead he asked if we were going to get something signed, and I said no, we just couldn't stand in that line. Then he pointed in the opposite direction and told us there was a small kids' line forming, that would go through first, so that kids could get to bed as soon as possible. We RAN. There were only about 20 kids in front of us, and 30 minutes later, Sabine met her role model in person, Sabine gave Jane Goodall a picture of her and Aspen dressed as Jane Goodall and a chimpanzee last Halloween, and Jane Goodall signed her book! She also told Sabine she liked her shoes, that they were "very smart." Sabine was giddy.
She was animated the whole walk back to our car, (which took 40 minutes because mommy forgot quite exactly where it was) and chatted the whole way home. She was still up and excited and wanted to show daddy all of her loot when we walked in around 11:00. We finally made her go to bed, and it has taken several days of exhaustion to recover and get back to a normal sleep routine, but it was totally worth it. One of the most special events in her (our!) life, to-date.
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