Early last April, I received a call from a woman who introduced herself and said she was with the Greater Tacoma Peace Prize. She asked me if I knew that I had been nominated by a few of the teachers at my son’s school. I was surprised and touched by the generosity of these amazing woman. As I was taking it in, she informed me that in fact they had chosen me for their 2010 Laureate. I was so shocked and moved that much of the rest of our conversation was a bit of a blur. I did remember her asking me not to say anything until they made a public announcement on April 24th. I got off the phone and started to research The Greater Tacoma Peace Prize. From what I could gather, I would receive a beautiful hand blown glass bowl and be honored at a dinner in May. When April 24th arrived, my husband and I did some research and found out that the announcement would be made at the Norse festival at Pacific Lutheran University. By the time we found out, it had already been announced, but we decided to hop in the car and go to the Norse festival anyways. After introducing ourselves to a board member, he looked at me and said, “You must be so thrilled to be going to Norway.” I was totally confused and looked at him and said, “Excuse me?” He went on to tell me that the prize included a trip for 2 to Oslo, Norway to be present at the Nobel Peace Prize events this upcoming Dec. I replied, “Are you sure?” Now here I am days away from boarding the plane with Niko and Sam, still in awe of the wonder of it all.