Catching up...

How have I let it get this bad? Way too long between posts, but here we go again.

There's one thing I realllly can't believe I never wrote about. Meeting SG. As in Savannah Guthrie. As in my long-time journalism idol and current Today show anchor.

It was a birthday surprise, and though I'm now closer to my half birthday than the real thing, I still think about it often. Turns out my wonderful sister, Megan, is not only a compassionate, over-worked (but not out-worked) medical student, but a skilled detective as well. With some brainy logic and charming dedication, she tracked down the contact info for Savannah Guthrie and the Executive Producer for her MSNBC show, The Daily Rundown.

I think it was Meg's naive flattery -- my favorite part of the email was when she said something like, "we would be more than willing to purchase tickets to watch the show or wait in line to be part of the audience"-- that won them over. The tv people reading this know that shows with that kind of format rarely have an 'audience' and never charge to watch. But it's an easy conclusion for most to make. Of course I had no idea that any of this was happening at the time (or I would have put MUCH more thought into packing for my quick trip to DC) that we would get to meet Savannah, the producer Libby Leist, and Chuck Todd. AND watch their show from inside the studio. Afterwards, she showed us around the Washington bureau, including the main NBC newsroom and historic Meet the Press studio.

Our little tour was 10 or 15 minutes at the most. But the conversation (I realllly tried not to be starstruck) proved to stick around much longer. It was one of those rare experiences when you look up to someone for years but when you finally get the chance to meet them in real life, there's a bit of hesitation--what if she isn't what I thought? I can't count the number of times I have literally held my breath as the Nightly News begins, hoping to see Savannah on the White House lawn with a smart, accessible report delivered with genuine human quality she exudes so effortlessly. That's why my time with her was so special. She was just the same in person. Everything I'd imagined her to be and more. So thanks, Savannah, for letting four Missouri girls crash the DR set. And most of all, thanks for being so great.