September 25, 2006

Celebrity Encounter

I was at Borders with the girls today buying this book:

If you can’t read the fine print it says, Growing a Girl: Seven Strategies for Raising a Strong, Spirited Daughter by Dr. Barbara Mackoff. I bought it because I was particularly drawn to this statement on the back jacket: "What to do about Barbie dolls and traditional fairy tales-without spoiling your daughter’s fun". Sounds like a plan to me considering the current state of Kindergarten.

I bought this book as opposed to one of the other twenty books on raising strong girls because I read one of the author’s other books called School Girls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap when I was in graduate school. The book became the main source for a paper I wrote for one of my classes. It’s about older girls. The book I bought today is a "guide to parenting girls from birth to age twelve." Perfect.

While at Borders, Big I decided she needed to use the restroom. We had to walk past the snack and drink area to get to the restroom so I don’t have to tell you what happened. We were standing there in front of the drink cooler while Big I was trying to choose her beverage when an older man came over and grabbed a chunk of Big I’s hair. He held it in front of her face and said, "Does this belong to you? I found it over there." I kind of chuckled a bit and then gave him a cautionary sideways glance like "Why is this guy touching my kid?" He seemed nice enough though, so I didn’t joint lock him or anything.

Big I finally decided on her juice and we went to get in line. He gestured for us to go ahead of him, and I thanked him and then kindly declined. "You go ahead. She’ll probably change her mind another twenty times before we get to the front" I said. He smiled and it was then that I realized he looked very familiar.

"You look so familiar to me," I said as I studied his face and tried to figure out where I knew him from. I had a brief but terrifying thought that perhaps I recognized his picture from the child predator pictures from my area. . . or maybe "Law and Order" I thought. But I quickly dismissed both of those thoughts. He then said, "Well, that’s probably because I’ve been in a lot of movies and TV shows. You probably recognize me from ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’. I played the dad."

And then, stealing a move from Seinfeld’s Elaine, I screeched out a "GET OUT OF HERE" and pushed his arm. "Oh My GOD! I LOVED that movie. You were SO funny!" He smiled and moved up to the cashier.

"He’s a famous actor" I said to Big I. She grinned ear to ear. "Really?" she asked. "Yes. He’s been in lots of TV shows and movies," I told her. She was thrilled. And then I remembered his name, Michael Constantine.

Mr. Constantine finished paying for his muffin and drink and I couldn’t resist. "So, do you have any advice for an aspiring actress?" I asked him as I patted Big I’s head. He looked in her direction, smiled and said, "Her?" I said, "Yep. We have acting class in a half hour." "Have fun with it sweetie. Do it until it’s not fun anymore and then stop," he said to her. I was kind of hoping for the business card of his agent or something, but I couldn’t have possibly been disappointed with the advice he gave her. What cool advice to give a kid! How exciting that we had a celebrity encounter is OUR Borders, which is really more like HIS Border because the cashier told me he’s there all the time.

When we got home, I got on the internet and showed Big I his pictures and all the movies and TV shows he’s been in. I was right about the "Law and Order" credit, and Big I was so excited. "Wow! He looks just like THAT!" she squealed.

What a way to encourage visits to the book store!