Last night, I got to meet Glenn Beck at a book signing in West Ashley. Pulling into the parking lot, I saw the beautiful
Christmas Sweater tour bus parked in front of Books-A-Million. People were posing and taking pictures with it as if it were a monument in Europe. (Confession: I had someone take my picture with it too on my way out.)
As I entered the store, I was handed a number and instructions to read over while I took my place in line. The lines were about as long as the voting lines we stood in on election day. The man behind me was turning around or covering up magazines that had any pictures or articles of Barak Obama. (That just makes Conservatives look like sore losers!) The girl in front of me told me that she had sat on the front row of Glenn Beck's last show and some of his spit landed on her cheek...she was so excited about that. I wanted to tell her that I sat on the front row at the HD theater showing of Beck '08 and had a sore neck for a week....but that didn't really sound very exciting, so I kept it to myself.
I watched the line snake through aisle after aisle, taking note of all the odd people who came out to see Glenn. They were mostly older, white, and either wearing a Christmas Sweater or some sort of political statement t-shirt. There were a few weird folks in the crowd - you know, the American Idol reject-types. Good thing I wasn't one of the weird ones!
Despite the long line, it was moving rather quickly. The instructions said he would not be doing customized signings and no pictures could be taken, except for the designated "picture taking zone". As I turned a corner, I got my first glance at Glenn! He was wearing blue jeans and a black shirt that had an AC/DC logo on it. As I looked closer, it actually said AD/HD (how clever!).
The girl in front of me kept saying "He's sooooo cute!" I noticed he had security with him, along with his "Team Beck" crew and his wife Tanya.
Although the line was moving quickly, he took time to make eye contact with each person and thank them for coming. A few older ladies were able to sneak in a hug and any guys wearing military or police uniforms were given a sincere "thank you" from Glenn. He even gave a little girl a sticker that said "Junior Patriots Club". He seemed like he genuinely appreciated each person being there.
The Books-A-Million staffers kept telling folks to move along and keep back. I wish I had thought about asking for a hug, but my mind was spinning as I was trying to think about what I was going to say to him since we were limited on our time with him. I thought I'd say something witty like, "You're Tanya's husband, right?" or wait until he shook my hand and say "I've never washed this hand before!" But no, I didn't say either of those things nor did I ask for a hug.
So, it was finally my turn to see him. It was similar to the scene in
A Christmas Story when Ralphie was getting ready to tell Santa what he wanted and then blew it. I walked up, handed him my book and stuck my hand out to shake his. As he finished signing, he stopped, grabbed my hand with both of his, looked me straight in the eyes, leaned in and said "hello". (What I was thinking at that moment: "Hello? What do you say when someone says hello? What language is that?" What do I say? Ahhhh!") I froze up. All I could say was, "Your my biggest fan!" (doh!) He laughed and said, "Yes, I'm your biggest fan. Thanks for coming." I rushed off red in the face.
I did manage to hang out for a while and get in the "picture taking area" with the other fans (aka stalkers). He answered a few questions from the crowd and thanked everyone again for coming out. He said he hoped to see all of us at the show on Wednesday and then he left the building. I did manage to get a photo with him before leaving the store....OK, it wasn't really him, but it was better than anything else.
