February 20 had been marked on my calendar for months. Friends had invited Michael and me to a “surprise” black tie dinner honoring Van Cliburn, the pianist. Imagine my astonishment when we entered the City Club in downtown Fort Worth, and I saw assembled 150 people who were there to surprise me!

The evening had been arranged by my husband Michael to introduce me to the ELF – acronym for Excellence in Literary Fiction – an award to be given annually to a student from my alma mater, Texas Christian University, along with a $50,000 scholarship.

He had established this foundation with TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini , and together they planned this evening full of surprises. The first of which was to see my friend Bob Schieffer of CBS. He was there to serve as emcee. Other luminaries who spoke that evening were writers Dan Jenkins, Rick Bragg, and my agent Maria Carvainis. Longtime friend, Pat Conroy couldn’t attend, but he sent a video message.

Several publishing colleagues made the trip to Texas for the occasion. They included David Rosenthal, publisher of Simon & Schuster, Marysue Rucci, my editor, along with Louise Burke, publisher of Pocket Books, and Diane Moggy from MIRA.

The evening concluded with the biggest surprise of all: a hooding ceremony. Chancellor Boschini presented me with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. I wept, and so did many in attendance, knowing how deeply I had regretted never completing my college education.

It’s astonishing that all my friends and family, my office staff, and my husbandmanaged to keep this a secret for months! I’ll never trust them to be telling me the truth again. . .but I want to thank them all for the stupendous surprise and one of the most meaningful evenings of my life.

Photos are now available in the Photo Gallery!