So, yeah. Bill Clinton.
I'm basically lifting this from an e-mail I already sent out about it. I don't know why it took me so long to cobble together an entry, but it's been a weird week. Truth be told, when I got home on Tuesday night, after the signing, my mood crashed to the ground like nothing I've felt in a long time. I couldn't get the energy up to call anyone to tell them about it, not even my parents. I certainly wasn't disappointed about having seen him (or, you know, not being slipped his phone number). I just don't know what my problem was.
Anyway.
So, how'd it go with Bill?
Holy cow. I hate to sound like some crushy girly Monica-type person, but what they say about him is completely true, he just has so much presence it is unbelievable. He is damned good-looking, for one thing. It's like charisma shoots out of his pores, and when he looks at you, you are the only person in the room. It's awesome.
When I got to the bookstore around 11:30, an hour before it was supposed to start, they were making people just hang out in front of the store, but about five minutes after I got there, they called for the "A"s, and we all lined up, looking snootily at the others who still had to wait (in the freaking hot sun, I might add). I ended up being perhaps the seventh person in line.
At first we thought we were going to have to wait in the freaking hot sun for the rest of the hour, but no. About 11:45, they started moving us into the store, one by one. Obviously, we had to be wanded, and then we got a little hospital-bracelet type thing, and then we followed the arrows on the floor until we got to a table with a sign that told us to wait.
We were lined up next to a bookcase so that we couldn't see where he was going to be signing. But then, about 12:15, he magically appeared around the corner.
Everyone just gasped. It was actually kind of funny, hearing all 100 who were already inside the store inhale at the same time. And then we waved, and clapped, and he looked around at the crowd and was all, "Hello, everybody," and I was only about ten feet away, and we totally made eye contact, and that was utterly cool.
Then the actual booksigning started, and it all happened really fast. I moved up to the table (he was standing behind this tall table, and I think he actually stood up the whole time), and a very friendly aide took my book and made sure it was open to the right page, and then slid it in front of Clinton when it was my turn.
I had to remember to look him in the eye, almost forcing myself to, because I was afraid I would get shy, but I did, and seriously, seriously, things happened inside my chest that have never happened before. I shook his hand before he signed the book (great hands, very smooth, and a solid handshake) and said "Hello, it's an honor to meet you," and he said "Thanks, I hope you like the book" as he signed it, and I just stood there grinning and staring. When he was done, he actually reached for my hand again as I was taking my book back (I think he was confused, or tired, or just could not resist taking my hand again maybe), then he took it away as I reached back for it, but then he reached for mine again, so we did this whole thing and ended up shaking hands a second time. Woo!
And then it was done. I did not fall down or pass out on my way out of the store, which I was kind of proud of. Back at the door, someone cut the wristband off but handed it back to me, and then someone else took my line ticket, and I was too flustered to ask to keep that as well.
Since it was so freaking hot and I was still in too much of a buzz to deal with the bus and metro, I decided to take a cab back to the office. The cabbie picked up two other guys in suits who were also going back downtown, and one of them asked me if this was my first time meeting a president, and I said yes, and then I asked him if he had ever met him before, and he said "Yeah," in a way that sounded like "Well, duh," of course he's met Bill Clinton before, didn't I know who he was? So for a few blocks I was all nervous and casting sidelong glances at him to see if I could recognize him, but I didn't, and then I decided that he couldn't have been all that important if he still had to wait in line to get his book signed like the rest of the starstruck masses.
Anyway, it was awesome. And as I sit here and think about the fact that I almost didn't go to the launch party in the first place, I can hardly believe it.
So, let's recap. Last year, I met Eddie Izzard and got my picture taken with him. This year, I met Bill Clinton and shook his hand, twice.
Yep. I believe I can indeed die happy.