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July 28, 2004
Couple of New Photos
Riley's teacher at school, Natalie, took some great shots of him in his swing today. He's had a great week at school; let's hope it holds out for the plane to New Jersey on Friday....
Posted by Lee Clontz at 9:13 PM
July 21, 2004
Protecting Your Photos the Clinton Way
So a few months ago, I left the condo at midnight to go down the local Chapter 11 bookstore and buy two copies of the Bill Clinton book "My Life." Reason being, Clinton was coming to town for a book signing and it was one copy, one ticket, and meeting him wasn't something Melissa and I were going to miss.
Fast forward to today. We dropped Riley off at day care this morning, having both taken the day off. We picked up Melissa's work friend Debra and drove to the bookstore, arriving at about 9:30 a.m. The signing was scheduled to start at noon.
We got our tickets, which guaranteed us a place in line, if not an actual signature, and we were told to come back at 1:45 p.m., just 15 minutes before the signing was due to be over. Our tickets were in the "J" section, with apparently 100 people per letter. That put about a thousand people ahead of us.
Ever since college, I have kept a picture of Bill Clinton that was sent to the newspaper I worked on, putting it up in my office at work. Yesterday, I pulled it down and decided to bring it with me, even though the ticket said that no other memorabilia (had to look up the spelling of that word) would be signed -- just the book. Either way, I tucked the 8x10 into my book and brought it with me.
Having several hours to kill, we decided to go home for a bit and come back closer to the time of the signing. After dropping Debra off, we almost immediately rethought that notion and turned around, thinking we might catch Clinton's entrance.
We got back to the bookstore and no dice -- Clinton was coming in through a back door in the store and wouldn't be coming through the front. We ate lunch, then got in line with the other folks in "J" section, several hundred feet from the front door to the bookstore.
We waited for a long time before the line even started to move. Unfortunately, we were in the sun, so we got a little baked. Finally the line started to move, but we were concerned that we wouldn't get a book signed at all because it was so close to the ending time. Rumors spread throughout the line that he had an engagement at 3 p.m. Time went by, we inched closer and finally we got to the door.
We went inside and were wanded by Secret Service, then followed a line toward the back of the store. We saw Clinton from a distance. He was wearing a light blue shirt and a pink tie and seemed friendly, if a bit tired. Melissa teared up, as she warned that she would, and I started to get serious starstruck shakes.
As we got close to Clinton, I pulled the photo out and his handler took my book. He extended his hand to me. "It's an honor to meet you, Mr. President," I said. "Thank you very much," he said, signing the title page. I held up the photo. "I keep this photo on my desk every day," I said. He glanced up and did a double-take (the photo was circa 1993, a political lifetime ago). He reached his hand out and took the photo. "What's your name?" I told him and he wrote "To Lee -- Best Wishes -- Bill Clinton."
I thanked him and he said "Now you'll want to keep this out of the sun." The photo was a little faded by time and a period in a storage box in my Grandmother's garage while I lived in NYC. "Anything you say, sir," I said -- I was a little awestruck. "No, I'm serious," he said, "It'll fade."
I laughed and said, "Well, now it's going in the safe." He smiled, I thanked him one more time, and moved on.
Melissa told him that it was an honor to meet him -- she was dying to look him in the eye and call him "Mr. President," which she did -- and he told her that he hoped that she enjoyed the book. We walked outside on a cloud.
To make a great day even better, the book signing was soon over and Clinton was due to come outside to visit with people who weren't able to get in before his handlers called time. We waited outside about 45 minutes before he came out, running to grab the camera (they weren't allowed in the bookstore). I got to shake his hand again as the crowd went nuts and got some great photos.
Whew. We're all a little sunburned, but it was an amazing day.
Posted by Lee Clontz at 8:37 PM
A month later...
It's been a while since the last update, I know, but going back to work and getting into our routine has taken some time. Riley's doing great, sitting up (mostly) on his own and talking up a storm. He's doing very well at school and his teachers, Natalie and Josephine, are terrific with him. He's actually starting to learn to nap, which is a huge change from before.
In the past month, Riley went to the zoo for a work function for Melissa; he has been visited by his Grammy Carol and Aunt Ashley as well as by Aunt Michele and Uncle Michael and his cousins Rachael and Camryn; and he's started sleeping completely through the night just about every night. He has a doctor's appointment on Friday, so we're looking forward to seeing what he weighs.
Anyway, enough prattle. On with the pictures...
Posted by Lee Clontz at 8:06 PM