Monday, June 18, 2012

My weather guy

Have you ever noticed how the people on the news start to feel like acquaintances, like people you've known for years? We see them all the time and something about their face inside a screen elevates them to untouchable celebrity status while also making them feel like a friend. We see them at the post office and whisper to the person next to us, "Isn't that (fill in the blank)?" We marvel that they are human doing human things like sending a package or (gasp) grocery shopping. It's hard to imagine them out of that matching red suit or the tie and blazer.

This time it wasn't the post office or the grocery store where I had my semi-celeb sighting; I recently helped host a baby shower at my meteorologist's home (long story). I had never met him. I felt like I had met him, but I hadn't, which made it feel awkward right there. I was scrounging for conversation material. I mean, what do you talk about with your weather guy? The weather? Come on. So, we talked about music for a while, about singing in church choirs, and the Episcopal church downtown, about the piano in his sitting room. And then I was glad for the diversion of more guests arriving and needing to get them drinks and take their gifts.

So, there you have it. Meteorologists are real people who wear jeans and eat burgers and water their gardens and have two dogs at home that have funny names.

What about you? Have you had any interactions with news personalities? Did you sense that awkwardness? If so, I feel ya.

1 comment:

Molly Page said...

When I was working retail in Chattanooga one of the news anchors came into the store. She was incredibly nice but you could tell she kind of wanted me to acknowledge "who" she was. I didn't. But you could tell she wanted me to. It made me giggle.