Every blue moon a road warrior is even surprised by the travel gods. I can say it has happened only once before in my life. I got off my direct cattle car at Reagan National and headed to buy a bottle of water in the lobby. Standing in line in my normal post decompression malaise my mind was wandering aimlessly thinking about how most people dress for travel like it was the sofa in their den. It won’t be long before you can’t get on a plane unless you are wearing a stained tee shirt and some loose fitting elastic waistband. What has happened to personal hygiene and pride?
As I’m deciding to dump my $3.00 bottle water on my fellow traveler standing in line in front of me and toss him the two bars of the exceedingly plain “fancy” soap I borrowed from the last hotel visited, something caught my attention. From the corner of my eye a large group of well dressed business men were softly ambling past me. Not appearing to be in a hurry, it seemed odd they were huddled together in what seemed to be a formation designed to past through the airport lobby without rubbing up against the other hygienically challenged travelers. I began to notice the polished shoes, the pressed pants, the carefully tailored suits that covered well conditioned bodies, the impeccable selection of colors and fabrics, the clean shaven faces and the earpieces. All of them had the same style of earpieces?
At this point my aimlessly wandering mind began to awake itself to the mystery unfolding. I began to slowly scan the crowd to uncover the simple riddle of the earpieces. As my eyes approach the center of the huddle there was a man taller in stature with surprisingly board shoulders talking on a cell phone in a delicate affable tone. There in the middle a face I recognized, but the face was not turned away. The face was intently focused waiting for me to look up. At the very moment I looked at into the eyes of this somewhat familiar face we were locked in a powerful gaze. Could it be? Yes it is? I can’t believe it! No it can’t be! By god it’s the former president George Sr. My eyes immediately conveyed recognition, for which they were then rewarded with a wide and genuine smile. A comforting familiar smile, like how your dad would smile when he hadn’t seen you for a long time. It was a smile of compassion and strength, one that makes you feel secure and calm.
As quickly as it happened, it was over. The softly ambling huddle of well dressed business men with earpieces quietly swept the former president around security like a leaf gently floating in a mountain stream with adept silence. I’m not sure many other people understood what just happened. It felt like my personal and private audience with the former leader of the free world, even if it only lasted three seconds.
Celebrity watching is not one of my interests. I feel my responsibility to a celebrity is to ignore them and treat them as if they are just another person in the crowd. Seldom do I find it necessary to even note meeting someone famous, but for some reason this was different. I think it was the smile. It made me feel like the chance encounter was equally important to both us.
