Meeting the Commander in Chief

This morning, President Bush spoke to the personnel of the U.S. Mission at a cozy reception held at the Waldorf. With Secretary Rice by his side, the president spoke briefly, thanking us all for our work and teasing his final address to the UN General Assembly, which he was to give later this morning.

The President then took a photo with children of Mission personnel (telling them to blame him for being late to school) and shook hands with mission staffers.

Despite repeated warnings to not ask for autographs, Mrs. Morganobrien.com took the bull by the horns and had the leader of the free world sign an official Rawlings baseball commemorating the last season of Yankee Stadium. Kudos to my better half for having the guts in the family.

(It should be noted that one of my all time favorite events at the Stadium was the 2001 World Series, when the president fired a strike to kick off Game 1.)

The President happily obliged, signing the ball and striking up a conversation about the Yanks with my Mrs. Just a terriffic moment, one we will never forget. Man, I'm a lucky guy.



ENDNOTE: I never had the opportunity to meet the President at Kirtland, despite serving as the base lead for a half dozen visits (I would say 'thanklessly' serving as base lead, but Junior Suminsby awarded me with the Air Force Achievement Medal for my efforts, which was pretty sharp and much appreciated). Nonetheless, I got his autograph: how you like them apples, Kirtland!!!