Welcome to Washington

Meeting a nice lady

Sorry Senator! Too flabbergasted to remove my hat

In downtown D.C., July 20, 2006

No. I am not standing next to a cardboard cut-out.

And no. The woman next to me is not a celebrity look alike.

She is the junior senator from New York, former first lady Hillary R. Clinton.

And Tom and I were especially lucky to just be walking down G Street in downtown Washington--only minutes after arriving on the subway--when Hillary pulled up in her limo.

Tom spotted her first.

I was too busy watching the cop maneuvering his Segway next to the curb.

"Jim, it's Hillary Clinton!," Tom said. She had just stepped out of a Lincoln Towncar, accompanied by two burly Secret Service agents.

I watched as she walked over to the policeman and was close enough to hear her ask "How do you like that thing?".

Hillary questioning cop on a Segway

Fumbling in my fanny pack, I pulled out the camera, turned it on, passed it over to Tom and positioned myself for a shot.

One of her Secret Service agents (there to protect the former first lady) eyed me warily.

"Would she pose for a photograph?," I asked him.

Looking at me as if I had spoken to him in Croatian, he shrugged his shoulders in a non-commital way.

I took that as a "yes".

I waited while she finished questioning the cop and then said "Senator, would you pose for a photograph?".

"I have to hurry to give a speech," she answered, "but I have time for one."

As I moved next to her, she asked "Where ya from?" and seemed pleased to hear me say California.

She and I beamed at the camera, Tom snapped the historic shot, and then she walked off, after looking at Tom and saying "Thank you sir".

What was she like in person?

Very poised, very confident, very well made-up and genuinely warm.

She was obviously quite interested and curious about the policeman on the Segway. And Tom and I found it odd that he and I seemed to be the only people on this busy sidewalk that seemed interested in her.

We guessed they all must be used to celebrity sightings like this one. Hillary? Ah, no big deal.

It was for us.

But then I became paranoid that the camera would be stolen or that I would drop it in the Tidal Basin.

We found a camera store and once inside I first made prints of the million dollar photos, then a cd and finally I bought a new flash card, installing it in the camera so I could safeguard the Hillary series.

Safely backed-up, Tom and I resumed our tour of the Capitol.

Having lunch at a bar, we showed our waitress the image of Hillary and I. "Wow!" she said, "where'd you take that?"

Right around the corner, we answered. Others at the bar wanted to see the image too.

And none could believe how lucky we were.

This has been a trip with amazing luck. I wonder what else is waiting for us just around the bend...