And *I* met....was Re: Amanda's pics

[KathyK]

The only famous person I've met wasn't famous at the time.  Well, he 
was famous in our town because he'd had some success in acting at 
the time:  

James Vanderbeek of the now-ended television show "Dawson's Creek"

I used to play softball with his younger sister and he'd sometimes 
come watch the games.  
Then after "Dawson's" began he'd sometimes come home and rent movies 
at my video store.  The other employees used to steal the receipt he 
signed when he left.  Having no actual interest in the show, myself, 
I refrained from the (very) petty theft.  

Oh, I remembered someone else I've met.  Chris Berman, the 
sportscaster, sometimes comes into our store.  He's a very friendly 
guy.  

And here's my story in which I didn't actually meet a famous person 
but he was right near us:

The governor of the state of Connecticut is John Rowland.  Several 
years back my mother, younger brother, and I had dinner at a 
Japanese restaurant with some family friends.  

I don't know what this is called because that was my one time in a 
Japanese restaurant but we sat where they cook the food right in 
front of you.  The cooking area was surrounded on all sides by 
customers watching.  We ended up seated directly across from the 
Governor.  So we all sort of smiled at him and continued our meal...

Well, apparently seeing Governor Rowland was much too much for one 
of the people who was with us.  He kept saying excitedly and 
*loudly* that now we could tell people we'd had dinner with the 
governor.  And he continued saying it, perhaps unaware of his volume 
and unaware of our quickly reddening faces.  

Rowland and co. would glance at us from time to time, and we all did 
our best to ignore their looks and to try to shush our friend 
without embarassing him or hurting our feelings.  I just prayed we 
finished dinner quickly. 

As I type this it sounds very mild, but at the time, when I was a 
teenager, this was *mortifying.*

KathyK, who is sad to see Cindy go but understands the reasoning