Brushes With Fame

I shook Jimmy Carter's hand at a political rally when I was 22, and my (now-deceased) great-aunt was personal secretary to (also-deceased) William Allen White.

Go ahead--stand in awe of my awesomeness in having such heart-stopping encounters with famous people.

Boy#1 seems to brush up against fame with regularity. When I asked him what famous people he had met he didn't even have to think hard before he could start listing them. Madeline Albright. Helen Thomas. Kofi Annan. Every Kansas senator since Nancy Kassebaum. Now, bragging about this list of famous people doesn't provoke much starstruck envy except in a pretty select geek-heavy circle, but look who's here in the second row next to Stevie Wonder and Bono at the 2009 Inaugural Ball!

Two minutes later, he was within spittin' distance when Barack and Michelle made their first dance as the First Couple. (Film courtesy of my camera taking pictures of the television set because I'm high-tech like that.)

Last night I found myself in a conversation during which I inexplicably felt compelled to drag out my fame connections.

"One of my favorite cousins--well, he's a favorite cousin, but we haven't really seen each other a lot--well, anyway, we saw each other last spring for the first time in about 30 years, and I asked what his kids were doing, and guess what? His son is dating ASHLEY TISDALE."

You can only imaging the hubbub this produced, which is to say, none at all.

I guess if you're going to try to impress a bunch of women who saw the Beatles' first appearance on Ed Sullivan, you have to drop a bigger name than a co-star of High School Musical.

Kofi Annan, maybe?