Of America, Coast to Coast

I'll admit it: I liked going to school in California. It was relaxing but engaging in a lot of different ways. Plus being on campus is an experience I'm missing at the moment. Pepperdine is great.
But being here in DC, I've been presented with so many opportunities on a daily basis that would make a week let alone a single day. Take this past week for an example:

Over the weekend, I got a call from my uncle who lives north along the Red Line in Rockville, Maryland asking if I want to join my cousin and him at a NASCAR race this weekend. Now my uncle and that branch of the family has always been rather distant to me in comparison to the rest of my family if only because they were always on the move and never lived near us. My uncle recently retired as a Lt. Col. from the army and is now settling down as the head of Public Works for the city of Rockville. And so, when he called to hang out, I immediately took him up on the offer.
NASCAR to me has always been a new realm I have been meaning to discover, and this was my first real chance. We went up to Dover, Delaware and enjoyed the confines of the Monster Mile. It really was a great time, and I even picked up a new favorite driver, Kasey Kahne, though there was nothing particularly inspiring about his performance other than the fact he came out alive from a big wreck at the end of the race. It's just he has a really cool name. Is there any other criteria used for picking a favorite racer? It's not done geographically, which would be easy. Someone enlighten me if I'm doing this wrong.
Anyways, one of the souvenirs I got from the weekend was a wicked sunburn that blistered my nose. So for the whole week at work I was sporting a band aid to hide the damage. Embarrassed, I often told people I got into a fight, but generally everything in regards to my nose was in jest. It was actually a good conversation starter. Which brings me to the climax of the tale.
Each office puts on briefings every now and then to lobby other offices to sign onto bills they are sponsoring. Usually, a panel of specialists on the topic speak in support of the measure. For example, earlier in the year, I went to a briefing on guns and terrorism. There are 9 criteria one must clear before they can purchase a gun and being on a terrorist watchlist is not one of them so the office was proposing to close that gap. They had a three member panel representing the FBI, ATF, and DOJ speaking on the subject.
This particular briefing was on school lunches. The proposed bill co-sponsored by my Congressman Chris Shays would update the standards for all food sold on school grounds outside of the actual meals. This means vending machines, a la carte food, etc... So on the panel speaking were two mothers who billed themselves as the "Angry Moms" who were dissatisfied with the nutritional standards of food provided to our kids and were crusading for the cause against soda and chips. Also speaking was perhaps the biggest surprise: actor Chevy Chase and his wife apparently care passionately about the issue. So much so they spoke at the hearing and by all observations were quite knowledgeable. Now thats not to say Chevy didn't challenge the air of aggression and concern. Often times he would interrupt an Angry Mom or even his own wife which comments like "I'm here as a father not an actor. Actually, can anyone remember when I was last an actor?" or "Which reminds of of my work in Fletch," or "So are there any questions for me on school lunches? No? Anybody seen Caddyshack?"
After the briefing had finished, Chevy was busy signing autographs and taking pictures with the twenty-something year olds who were the real Legislative Assistants being lobbied on the issue. Being experienced in living in close-quarters to celebrities in Malibu, I tried to be cool and just continued to sit in my seat, finishing up my notes, minding my own business. That was until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see Chevy Chase, who asked "What happened to your nose, kid?" Remembering I had that band aid on my nose, I froze thought at the thought of who was making conversation with me. Chevy bleeping Chase. Still awed, and remembering where I was, I stammered out as quickly as it came to me, "I got in a fight with an Angry Mom." He let out a bellowing laugh and we carried on about California and such. It was a dream realized: I made Chevy Chase laugh.

I'm still trying to digest that moment, a highlight of my life. Ha. But still, it was pretty cool. Maybe I'll go to a Farm Bill briefing next and run into Dan Ackroyd. If I've learned anything, everything is possible.