Meeting a celebrity

To be honest, I did not want to put up a new post this soon. I wanted my leading post to be about Barack Obama for about a week. I was hoping to irritate at least a few conservatives and encourage a few liberals.

Then something happened Sunday, that I just had to report to all of you. I met Geddy Lee, the lead vocalist, great bass player and keyboardist for one of my favorite bands of all time, Rush. I was with my family at Millenium Park, the nice, touristy park off of Lake Michigan. We were sitting there and along came Geddy Lee who walked right in front of us with 2 older women and sat about 10 feet away from us. Then I wondered if I should even say anything to him at all. Once I realized that I should actually say something, my biggest emphasis was not to disrupt his good time. He wasn't there to be hounded by some goofy fan. No autographs, no taking pictures of me and Geddy (although my dear readers would deserve to see such photos, again, I wasn't going to put this man out while he was relaxing in Chicago).

So here's what I did. I watched him furtively. When he stopped talking (I didn't want to interrupt him while he was talking to the 2 women), I walked up to him and said, "Mr Lee?"
"Yes?"
"Hi, I just wanted to let you know I really enjoy your band's music"
"Thank you"
We shook hands. Then I walked away. For some reason, I just wasn't nervous. I still don't know why, but can only guess. I can't stop comparing it to meeting the famous Green Bay Packer, Jerry Kramer. When I was 10 yrs. old, I met this legendary offensive right guard, and when I got back to my seat, I was so awestruck my teeth were chattering. Meeting Geddy Lee was definitely a wonderful surprise, but I didn't even feel a fluttering heartbeat.

Quite frankly, I was happier with the way Maribeth reacted. We had been arguing before, because I told her before, that if we walked fast we would make the train and be able to go to church. She said no. She wasn't willing to walk fast or run. She didn't come to downtown Chicago to hurry, but to relax. We wouldn't be coming down there again for awhile. So there was no sense running to the train when the kids wanted to be at the park.

So after I met him, she had a big smile on her face. She must have said about 12 *+*times, "Now are you glad you didn't take the 4:30 train home??" She was just pleased as punch at the turn of events. She really felt vindicated. Seeing her so happy was a little like a beam of sunlight poking through the clouds, or hearing Geddy Lee singing "Dreamline" or "Tom Sawyer".

*+*Not an exaggeration!