UPDATE: Here is the touching story of the little girl who met Reagan 33 years ago at CPAC. humanevents/2014/09/11/reflections/ My dad always said that there were certain people who were lucky and those lucky people usually got all of their wishes granted. To his great delight, it turned out I was one of those people. As a little girl living in the D.C. area, my parents and I often drove by the White House. On one of those occasions, I burst out: “I WISH I could meet the president.” Exactly one week later, my wish came true. My father was one of the founding members of Accuracy in Media, so much of my childhood was spent hearing him speak at various events around the country. One such event was the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 1981, when President Ronald Reagan was the keynote speaker. At that CPAC, my mom took me off the floor of the convention to play in the hotel halls, as any child would want to do. It was because of this decision that I ended up meeting Ronald Reagan. As my mom tells the story, a hotel worker lost control of a cart of chairs that almost fell on me. Understandably, this made my mother very upset. It just so happened that the chief of the Secret Service for the president was also checking out the hotel for the evening’s gala. Hearing my distraught mother, he came over to investigate. Most likely it was the enormous Reagan button that really got the attention of the Secret Service agent. (It nearly covered my entire chest!). To my amazement, the agent bent down and asked, “Hey, would you like to meet the president?” I remember the hours of waiting for President Ronald Reagan to arrive. I was excited but also tired after waiting for what seemed like an eternity. I remember the security checks my parents had to go through to be cleared to join me. I remember how distressed my mother was that we were wearing casual day clothes while the president and Mrs. Reagan would be wearing black tie attire. Even at this young age, I had listened to his speeches. I was in awe of this very dynamic and powerful man. But as Ronald Reagan bent down to shake my hand, with his genuine, kind smile and twinkle in his eye, he put all my nerves at ease and I knew for sure that I was meeting a truly special man. I feel blessed to have met one of history’s greatest presidents. The photo of him shaking my hand that day is one of my most prized possessions. It sits in a place of honor on a table in my home – a reminder of a little girl’s wish that came true.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 17:55:03 +0000
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