My ordinary, yet extraordinary, brush with celebrity

What I saw almost passed me by without notice, because it was so ordinary at first glance. An older white man with an expensive haircut, suit with no tie, waiting to board a flight to Boston by himself.

He sure did look familiar, though.

I did a quick search on my phone to confirm my suspicion, and was at least pretty sure I was standing a few hundred feet away from former Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 

“That’s interesting,” I thought to myself, and proceeded to get in the boarding line while thinking of a hundred other things.

When I took my aisle seat in the extra legroom section and looked to my left, the facial profile and the luggage monogram confirmed my hunch from earlier. The man who once had a 50-agent security detail and access to his own C-32 to meet with world leaders was now sharing a row in economy on a small Airbus with me.

“Hi there. Am I having an ‘only in DC’ moment?” I asked him.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“You meet someone who looks very familiar on a plane from DCA,” I replied. He smiled in understanding.

“Hi, I’m Tony. What’s your name?” he asked, shaking my hand.

I introduced myself and told him I’d really enjoyed his appearance on “Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me,” a show he said he’d not known well before becoming a guest. We talked briefly about international adoption after he asked about the book I had out in front of me.

He had the ease of someone who had been around others for a very long time, and who thus knew how to put others at ease. His energy was kind and low-key. I thanked him for his service and said I hoped he was getting some rest these days. Then, I made a decision.

I’m an introvert who doesn’t get enough peace and quiet, and enjoys the silence of an occasional airplane ride. And I’m sitting next to a guy who spent more than 2,000 hours in the air over four years! I’m going to gift him a little peace and quiet by not talking his ear off for an hour.

So I didn’t ask for a selfie or an autograph. I kept to my book, and he to his highlighting papers from a folder, almost the whole time. He drank cranberry juice and apologized to the flight attendant for returning the can partially full. And I simply got up at the end of the flight and wished him safe travels.

Just two guys who are left-handed, heading solo to Boston for work. One of them was once fourth in the line of presidential succession. And the other one was me.

(Photo: Michael D. Barker, via Airliners.net)