We recently met US Vice-President Joseph Biden. Yeah... Biden... crazy right? Honestly, celebrities and figures of his stature rarely meet my expectations when I meet them. And of course, these expectations are formed merely by what these people want you to see. Whatever you think about Biden, there is one thing I have to say having now met him... he is the real deal. Exactly what you see is what you get. Only two celebrities have ever exceeded my expectations: Joe Biden and Malcolm McDowell. Biden is no-nonsense, he speaks off the top of his head, he oozes love and respect for family, and he loves kids. And he surrounds himself with kids… you will see a lot more of that in May’s video… but my point is that a person cannot fake these attributes around kids… they can smell fakes… and Biden is not one.
During his recent to the Balkan’s, which was his first overseas visit as VP, Biden took out time in his very busy schedule to host a meet and greet for all families associated with the embassy. Apparently, these kinds of evens are not the norm for high level visits. And when they did happen, they almost never included spouses and children. There was a lot of speculation from my colleagues, that the meet and greet would be cut short… or last no longer than thirty minutes. One colleague “knowingly” said that Biden would probably give a short speech, shake the hands of the 10 people in the front row and then leave… at least this is what people in my line of work has been accustom too… I don’t think anyone was prepared for Biden. In fact, earlier that faithful day, I was talking with a woman who worked on Biden’s campaign who commented on the fact that the VP is known for sticking to his schedule and didn’t expect any issues on timing… but then volunteered her opinion that he would probably only go long at the meet and greet… “he likes those kinds of things.” And he most definitely went long.
When he first arrived to the meet and greet, he was introduced and he began to address the crowd, but quickly stopped himself, walked off the front of the stage, took down the rope keep us back, and invited all the kids to have a seat around the stage with him. When he got back to the podium… before starting his formal remarks he took a moment to talk about how our kids and spouses make the greatest sacrifice for the work we do and he just can’t let the kids stand roped off like cattle. Sure, everything is a photo op, I am not that naive... but these are not photos for a national paper, there were no reporters... it was just for us. This kind of event doesn't make the papers. And what he did was very rare for officials of that level.
Grayson was one of the youngest... and although he behaved VERY well, he got a little bored and had been walking back and forth, periodically, from his seat on the stage and Serena and me (who were standing by the ropes) during the speech. He would get up to come stand with us... and would then go back to his spot. It happened a couple of times… nothing too distracting.
Anyway, the VP spoke for about 10 minutes and Gray was standing with us when Biden got off the stage to meet the kids. Biden asked if he could sit with them and when they made space for Biden, Gray's spot was obviously the one that disappeared to accommodate. Grayson wasn't interested in going back at first... kind of shy (like with Santa), but when he saw Biden shaking hands and talking to all of the kids like a grandfather would, everything was okay and Gray wanted to go back, without any suggestion from us. He went back to where is spot was... no room... he asked Jacob (a six year old friend) if he could sit on his lap... Jacob said “no”… But, another older kid told gray that he could sit on his lap if he wanted. But, before Gray has a chance to react. Biden reached over saying "you can sit on my lap", picked him up and planted him there.
Gray was very funny at first, I could see it in his eyes, “What just happened? Where am I?” And when he realized he was on the lap of “The Big Bosses Best Friends” (As Gray calls him), he was totally cool with it… he dug it. Gray was very interested in being Biden's "right hand man" while he continues to shake hands and talked to the other children. I took a ton of pictures and switched over to video just in time to catch Biden give Gray a very warm kiss on the top of the head as he stood up to give some attention to us parents.
Just a little bit later it was our turn in the receiving "mingle" to say hi... Biden instinctively greeted Gray first by bending down and scooping him up in his arms... and then greeting Serena and me. What was even more impressive is that the VP stayed to greet and take a picture with every single one of us. It’s the small thrills right? But we’re talking about 100 to 200 people… outside on a hot Serbian day after a long day of meetings. It was quite a commitment on the VP’s part. Pretty amazing.
But, I must make another comment as the very proud parent that I am. Gray’s photo op on the VP’s lap was not like his yearly trip to see Santa. For Santa… ever kid gets the honor to sit on his lap… for Biden’s visit… Gray was in the right place at the right time… he was the old kid to have the honor.
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1 comment:
very cool!
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