I saw Rosalynn Carter today as I was out during lunch.
Yes, the former first lady was in town as a stop on her tour for her new book, Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis, but I had no idea she’d be talking in the courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery when I ran over for a little art break during my lunch hour.
I have to say that the first lady looks fabulous and had drawn quite a crowd. I glanced at the scene and continued my planned art break in the American Origins collection, still one of my favorite exhibits in the National Portrait Gallery.
The thing that really struck me is how completely blasé I was about this lunchtime surprise, and I don’t think I was alone in that reaction. We Washingtonians sometimes forget just how much access we have to our leaders (and former leaders) on a daily basis. Ever since I almost ran into Nancy Reagan and her Secret Service detail on the sidewalk outside Elizabeth Arden one fall afternoon in 1988 (a reminder to look up when hurrying along a busy sidewalk, lest you encounter armed guards), I have taken the presence of our leaders as simply another part of life.
Sure, security ratcheted up a lot after the Oklahoma City bombing (they closed a portion of Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House and rerouted some downtown streets), and again after the September 11 attacks (with more new security barriers and closed streets on Capitol Hill, where I live). Those changes might make life — at least in terms of navigating city streets — a bit more complicated but they didn’t alter the fact that this city is the home of many prominent people who go out and live their lives just as the rest of us do.
We Washingtonians never know when we might see a prominent person as we go about our daily lives. Michelle Obama has been pictured at my neighborhood burger favorite, Good Stuff Eatery, on a Friday afternoon. I see Members of Congress so often in my neighborhood that I don’t even think about them as being anything special, except for maybe the one with the dog which has maintained a very serious love/hate relationship with my dog Madigan for several years now. Every time we walk by his house, I know if he’s home because his dog lets loose with a bark-fest the minute he sees us on the sidewalk as we walk to the park.
This is all very ordinary stuff that can happen with any neighbor, which probably makes sense in my neighborhood. However, I did pause to think that maybe the next time I see a first lady as I’m out at a museum or walking down a sidewalk, I’ll pause to appreciate how very lucky I am to live in such a fabulous, fascinating city.
