Kathryn and Laura Bush

Last night I took Kathryn to a special ticketed event for Laura Bush. She was promoting her new book that was written with her daughter Jenna (Jenna was supposed to be there, but I am sure her recent wedding and honeymoon changed things). The line was quite long when we got there even though it was supposed to be a "limited" event. We were able to see protestors with signs saying "put drug dealers in jail"- duh, I don't think that anyone would disagree with that, especially Laura Bush, but it was definitely an "experience". We also got to check out all of the secret service guys- very cute and friendly. We talked to several of them as the line progressed. Kathryn's eyes were wide with excitement. We also got to go in a storefront near the children's bookstore that had been set-up as a security screening area. We had to walk through a metal detector and some people were "wanded". The secret service guys were not as friendly in this room and were definitely profiling everyone. We finally made it to the door of the bookstore and Kathryn said "I see her- she is really pretty- she looks like Nana". Laura Bush is very attractive and petite- she almost glows with beautiful skin and eyes. She was well-dressed and classy- and definitely reminded me of my mom. Kathryn just stared at her as we made our way to the table and my heart sunk as I realized that our "limited, ticketed event" was nothing more than her signing her name, not personalizing, and simply looking up at each person and saying "hi, thank you for coming". However, Kathryn was so enthralled that she was not going to make do with a simple hi. Laura Bush looked up as Kathryn stood 2 feet away from her on the other side of the table and asked "do you like to read?", Kathryn answered "yes, m'am" (thank goodness she remembered her manners today), Mrs. Bush looked back down to sign her name and Kathryn didn't budge, she said "I'm from Texas, too!". Mrs. Bush looked up at my beautiful 8 1/2 year old who had worn a dress, boots (because we're from Texas?), and asked me to curl her hair and asked Kathryn "what part of Texas?". Kathryn answered "San Antonio". Mrs. Bush said "wow, I like San Antonio. Were you born in Texas?". Kathryn said "yes, m'am, in Houston". Mrs. Bush replied "wow- a native Texan here. I am so glad you came!". Okay, so it wasn't earth-shattering, but it was a two-way conversation that my 8 year old had with the First Lady. I simply stood there like a dork with my mouth wide open.

As we walked out we saw all of the secret service suburbans and police escorts right by our car. There were not too many people behind us at the signing, so we sat in our car and read our new books by Laura Bush and watched. We could tell when she was about to come out and walked back over to the area and asked one of the secret service if we could stand there and he said "sure". There were only about 10 people that gathered and she walked out of the building about 15 feet away from us and got into her suburban. We could see through the windows (I was surprised that they weren't blacked out) and she was waving. I think that she saw Kathryn standing there in her cowboy boots and seemed to be waving directly at us- well, either us or the guy next to us in an apron who evidently worked at the pizza place...

What an experience! I wish that I had pictures, but they weren't allowed. I hope that my daughter always remembers the night she met the First Lady.