MY RIGHT HAND

I have been privileged to meet and greet some mighty fine people.  Granted, I am grateful for meeting the famous, but also thankful I have met and shared time with non-famous individuals too.  A few days ago, I was at the post office and I bought some stamps.  They featured the face of the deceased Congressman John R. Lewis of Georgia.  Just three months before his death in 2020, he gave a lecture and I was able to shake hands with him and chatted with him about the Masonic fraternity.

When I got those stamps, it dawned on me that these were the first postage stamps I ever had with the picture of someone I shook hands with. I then looked down at my right hand and reflected on the various notable people who I have shaken hands with:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, former Senator Bill Bradley, former U.S. Archivist John Carlin,  former Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt, former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr., Texas Governor Greg Abbott, former Nebraska Governors Dave Heineman and Pete Ricketts,  former Heavyweight Boxing Champion George Foreman, singers Phil Collins and Marie Osmond. Plus former President of Mexico Vicente Fox.  Perhaps the most colorful person was the late Dick Wilson who was known for his character of “Mr. Whipple” in the “Don’t Squeeze The Charmin” toilet paper ads. Being cordial pays off.