Obama Sighting

Today en route to the Metro, my cabbie and I found ourselves in at a standstill. Oh no! I thought. Another accident or a police holdup. Turns out that traffic stood still for Obama's motorcade. I had just listened to his Patriot Center Speech on healthcare reform in the cab, and he was actually headed my way. When I saw everyone else on the short stretch of road get out of their cars, so did I. I stood by the side of the road and watched as two police and a series of tinted-glass cars passed by. A photographer rode by and took photos of us all lined up along the road. Oh, to see the President once more. I have not been in an Obama-group since his inauguration. His van passed by, and I made his profile out vaguely against the tinted glass.

Although Obama is the leader of the free world now, he was once just an ordinary guy with a nice smile. A brilliant guy who also happened to be in the right places at the right time, but still, regular guy, great smile. I still wish I'd had the gall to approach him at the Hyde Park Coop when he was just Prof. Obama. Come to think of it, it couldn't hurt to just smile more in life.

I met another star on the train - an eight-month-old with a fantastic disposition. He was quiet when his Mom was quiet, and inquisitive when his Mom talked to him. Chub everywhere - this small dude had cheeks that would make a bulldog jealous. He smiled at everyone on the train. His mom turned to me and said, "He thinks everyone who boards is his friend." He strained to touch people that passed him by. "He's trying to make that woman across the aisle smile, but she hasn't yet. But he's still going to try." I told his mom that he was certainly a people person. "Oh yeah," she replied. He turned to me. I think he knew I was talking about him. "You're very friendly," I told him. He took some time to study me with his steady eyes, grab the pages of the book I was reading, which I'm sure he would like to nom a little, and gave me a big, toothless grin. Some people just got it.