"Why didn't you say something?!!!"

That is all I've heard for a week! First it was Ansley screaming the words in my ear as I called her on the phone to say, "You will not BELIEVE what just happened!" and the words have been repeated by every person who has heard the story in the last week!

So, here's the story again, for the 4 millionth time!

I was walking home from work on a cold and gray day, sick with a runny nose and sore throat. I usually ride the subway, and would normally never even dream of walking home on a day like Monday. I kept thinking I should just cut a street over and get on the subway, but I just kept walking. I neared the United Nations area, which I was under strict warning from my dad :) to NOT go near that place because "they're going to blow it up!" I was on 2nd Avenue and could see the UN down the street on 1st Avenue, so I kept the block distance as I passed 42nd and 43rd Streets (father knows best, you know), but something just made me turn on 44th Street and head towards the UN. As a policeman stopped me on the otherwise deserted sidewalk and a motorcade with armed secret service guys hanging out some of the car windows sped up beside me, all I could do was think "Uh-oh...darn it, why is Daddy always right?!"

The next series of events happened with me standing frozen, feeling like my arms, mouth, feet couldn't move. It was like I was trapped in my body and seeing things, but I couldn't do anything about it.

A former popular teacher at Hoover High School who moved to Washington DC several years ago and eventually became press secretary for Laura Bush and the twins walked by. Or at least, I think it's her. Yes, it's her - gotta be. But I didn't think she was working for them anymore. But maybe she is. Yes, I'm sure it's her. But she's walked further away now. If I yell, will she remember me? Do I call her Miss Dryden (how I knew her) or Mrs. Whitson (her name now). Will the policeman yell at me if I call to her? What if she doesn't hear me and I have to yell again? What if it's NOT her?! How embarrassing!

While these frantic thoughts are growing and I'm losing precious time to do anything about the situation, guess who I see get out of the front cars?? Well looky there...it's Jenna and sister Barbara and Jenna's new fiance Henry Hager and a whole entourage followed. My thoughts quickly shifted from Miss Dryden to, "Oh my gosh, am I seeing who I'm seeing?!?! My camera is right here in my bag, but will the secret service point their guns at me if I make any quick moves into a large bag??"

I think the only movement I made this whole time was my mouth dropped open, oh, and I had to wipe my runny nose a few times. After the group cleared the sidewalk into the building, the policeman politely let me walk on by. I acted unfazed and slowly walked by the big windows where a party was about to happen. There stood Laura Bush and the twins inside the UNICEF building for a party for Jenna's new book Ana's Story. It was so surreal.

I beat myself up for several days about the missed opportunity. Thanks to good investigative work from my buddy and former Dryden student Joshua Kerley, I got her email address, relayed how I'd seen her on the street in New York, and was pleasantly surprised to get an email right back from her with the first line, "Of course I remember you!"

I'm glad my steps were redirected down that street. I'm thankful to be reacquainted with the person whose move from Hoover to D.C. was part of my inspiration to move from Hoover to New York. Thanks "Miss Dryden"!



http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/03/20050304-12.html