Movie Star Encounters

[caption id="attachment_2004" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Ben plays, "Hollywood" with my sunglasses."][/caption]

And now I must admit where my fascination of Michael J. Fox began...

When I was in high school, Michael J. Fox was THE man.  When he made a guest appearance at our local amusement park, I was there with some of my girlfriends sitting near the front row.  I had on my favorite pair of sunglasses, they were yellow and had pointy tops and iridescent lenses.  I wore them as much as I possibly could, even at night (there was a song entitled, "I wear my sunglasses at night" that inspired that action).  Well, when Michael J. Fox came on stage, he said, "I like your sunglasses."  which made ME like my sunglasses even more.  (Until another area KC teenager told me that he had actually said it to HER, but I don't want to think about that part of the story, it sort of ruins the connection between Michael J. and I...Can you imagine, the gall of someone else taking the complement so obviously directed at my sunglasses?!?)

[caption id="attachment_2005" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Someone told me they thought Thom & I looked like an urban, celebrity couple in this photo..."][/caption]

Then, when Thom went on a business trip to L.A., I accompanied him.  (Hello, completely paid for swanky hotel, I'm there!)  One day as I arrived at the elevator one of the actors from the then popular television show, Spin City also walked onto the elevator (this was the actor who was also in the movie Ferris Beuller's Day Off).  We sort of just said "hi" and then rode the elevator down in silence like normal people do.  Then another day, we got on the elevator at the same time again.  I started to feel a little strange, thinking he might think I was following him, even though it had truly been a coincidence.  Then, I think it happened one more time and I began to wonder if perhaps HE was following ME....but I never saw him again after that. 

While working on my master's program in C hicago, my sister and Ghany (now her husband) came to visit me.  They were staying at the Blackstone Hotel, right down the street from my residence hall.  It just so happened that Paul Newman was shooting a film in the hotel during their stay.  Ghany kept going to the ballroom where they were  filming and trying to take pictures, before he was asked to leave the area.  At one point, as Ghany & I stepped into the elevator, I noticed that Paul Newman was getting in beside us.  We said hello and chit chatted about the board games I was carrying.  Ghany stood beside me, mouth agape, not saying a word.  Speechless for the first and last time I have ever witnessed.  Paul Newman was just a man and I was easily able to converse with him. 

[caption id="attachment_2003" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="My mom, Gordan, Moffat at Sesame Street"][/caption]

But  pay back time came for me with all my smugness over the Paul Newman incident.  When we went on our Make-A-Wish trip, Gordon and Maria were filming a scene.  As Gordon passed me in the hall, I was completely starstruck and tongue tied.  I couldn't believe it.  Then I was  doubly embarrassed when I saw that my mom and Moffat had been able not only talk to him, but have their picture taken with him.  UGH!