The Day I Almost Met The Next President Of The U.S

Between 2002 and 2007 I was a sales rep for Eon Decking, an alternative decking product.  My territory was much of the United States and I was on a plane every other week for 5 years.  It was a great experience and full of memorable moments.

Normally I would touch down and work in one particular area and fly home from there.  One week I had to go from the Northeast over to Illinois to check on some new customers.

It was a regional flight and had me go from DC to Chicago.

It was not a full flight at all and when I got to the baggage claim, there were only about 10 people in the area. Eventually it was just me and a family of four waiting.

There was some delay in getting our bags and that was when I noticed a striking figure with his back to me reading a paper.
  Hard not to notice, we were the only people in the baggage claim.  Two things struck me.  One, his tall stature, and two how well dressed he was and how nice his shoes were.  They say only women notice a man’s  shoes.

The other thing that I noticed was that although he was traveling with his wife and 2 little girls, he also had a chauffeur with him.

 He stood tall and confident and while he was only reading the paper, he had a commanding presence.

Other than that, it was not anything out of the ordinary except that I took notice.

Basically a well dressed attractive family traveling.

Off I went to pick up my rental car and drive out of town to go do my rounds of customer visits and try to drum up some new customers.

After a long day, I went and grabbed some dinner and headed back to my room to crash.  Being a canuck in the US, I liked to keep up to date with the news and local events to make me more in touch with my regional customers.

Click on the news and the big story of the day is that some politician was thanking people.  I guess he had just become a US Senator.  Half watching, I turned to the TV.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.   "Hey" I said to myself.  That’s the guy from the airport and his family.  He was on every local and national news channel that night.

I had never heard of him before and didn’t think much of it until a couple of years later when I, along with the rest of the world, watched the first black president in United States' history thank everyone and say “Yes We Can.”

And that was the day I stood shoulder to shoulder from the, soon to be ,next leader of the free world just waiting to get my luggage.

Now I wish I had said hello or at least “How’s it goin eh?”