Free And For Me

During the early morning hours on Saturday, October 20th. I, like many media outlets, stood outside of the red carpet with anticipation to interview many of the great speakers of O You 2012.

We knew in advance that Oprah would not be walking the red carpet, but Gayle King would. Gayle was one of the last celebrities to grace us with her presence. I was at the end of the line as many bloggers and reporters, yelled out, “Gayle, over here Gayle.” While waiting my turn, I stood on the side doing something I was taught in undergrad never to do. I do not know what came over me, but I decided I wanted a photo with Gayle. It is not proper etiquette to ask for a photo while covering the red carpet. Well, I handed my camera to fellow blogger, Adrienne Van Houten of Adrienne’s House  and asked her to take a picture of me while standing close to Gayle. Well after several attempts, Adrienne yells out, “Gayle, can you please take a picture with her?” I was completely mortified and thoughts of my old journalism professors popped in my head. All I could think was, “No……” Before I could say anything, Gayle was in my ear saying, “A closed mouth does not get feed. If you want something ask for it.” I am the first person to agree with her, but I did not think it was appropriate to do so on this day. I guess I was wrong.

I started out this day not knowing what to expect. This unexpected gesture was only the beginning of an uplifting day.

During this moment, I had to laugh at myself. I learned that is okay to sometime relax and not always be concerned about what is appropriate and inappropriate, on this day it was about being yourself and who cares what others may think.