Hey, Aren't You...?

I bought my sons's train tickets and we all loaded up the elevator. When the door opened a fellow elevator rider looked at me and said, "You going to Comic Con?"

I guess I expected that. The train drops us off three blocks from the convention hall and if you catch another train, it drops us off half a block from the hall. Almost everyone on that train was going to the Salt Lake Comic Con FanX, 2016 edition.

Then the guy asked a follow up question, "Hey, aren't you a writer?"

I was not expecting that.

Back in college I worked as a stuntman at the local amusement park in our town. I did that job for four years. I distinctly remember the one time I was recognized as a stuntman. I stopped and filled up my car with gas and when I went in to pay (we did that in those days...), the worker asked if did the stuntman shows at Lagoon. It was kind of a cool thing. I believe that was the one and only time it happened, that someone I didn't know knew me because of something I did that put me in the public eye.

Then came this morning. This fellow commuter knew me from previous Comic Cons. He had been to our booth and bought a book and in that book I had a story. And he--Chad--remembered it and remembered me. That was a special experience. It's never happened before. And who knows? It may never happen again. But, for a brief moment as we waited for a train to arrive on a crisp spring morning in Utah, that simple question made me feel good.

"Hey, I know you..." My friend asked a man who, with his son, passed our booth. He looked at her, smiled and simply nodded his head.

Obviously, others had told him that exact same thing. You could tell by his reaction. Then more of us looked at him and we felt the same way--we knew him, too. It turns out, the man is well known in our community and basically everywhere else. He's an actor and he was in some of the most popular TV movies that have ever been made. He's also the older brother of a dear friend of mine. He stopped and we all got pictures with him and his brother--who is also a celebrity.

As I took the train home from today's activities, I recalled the events of the morning and those that happened at the convention. This famous person was gracious, and completely charming as he accepted the attention, the accolades from fans. I'm sure it's something he's probably done hundreds if not thousands of times before.

But there was one time--maybe on a cool spring morning--when someone came up to him and said, "Hey, aren't you...?" And he said, "Yes, I am."