The McCains

One day while we were at the state fair, there was a sense of excitement in the air. Jays cousins were the owners of the boar who won the "Biggest Boar" competition and plans were that John McCain, Presidential candidate (who was at the fair) would be meeting with John, the one cousin who happened to be there.

Let's face it...Iowa is not NYC or LA full of celebrities, so this was cause for us to be giddy with excitement. I don't mean any disrespect to Mr. McCain or his wife, but if Elmo or Big Bird were in town, we'd probably get just as excited...that's how few celebrities we see around these parts (these parts? wow...did that sound "hick" or what?)

Pretty soon a guy in a suit came running in. The suit he was wearing was pastel blue and white pin-striped. No woman would allow her husband to be seen in public like this, so that told me he was definitely unmarried. It also told me he didn't live at home, because no decent mama would allow her son to dress like that either. Anyhow, this guy was literally waving a clipboard above his head and jumping up and down like he needed to find a bathroom immediately.

Before I knew what was going on, what felt like a bazillion photographers came rushing in like a tidal wave. Seriously, they descended like vultures. We were pushed to the back like a bad bunch of bananas, but we were still giddy with excitement. Someone shouted "Here he comes"and sure enough there he was with his beautiful wife right beside him.

Before I go any further, let me just say that Cindy McCain is gorgeous! I mean it! She is petite (more than I thought when seeing her on tv) and every hair on her head was wrapped beautifully. She had a nice dress outfit on, which I'm sure she regretted immediately after arriving in a PIG barn (who knows how long those white pants remained white). Seeing her looking that way made me a little self-concious with my "Life Is Good" t-shirt on with the poop stains and pizza sauce on it, and my hair shoved wildly into a claw in the back of my head. Oh, and since it was that time of the month, I had a big ol' zit on my chin. Nice.

McCain wanted to talk to John but the paparazzi (or the Rudearazzi as we now refer to them) wouldn't let John get closer, so my sister-in-law Jodi shouts "Let him through, it's his pig for crying out loud. I mean geez, come on" and she shoves poor John through the masses whether he wanted to go or not. I was laughing so hard I snorted! I'm sure that if my outfit didn't impress Cindy, my snorting did. Then Jodi says to Ashley "Get up there too. Go on" and she shoves her through the masses too. Since I'm only 5' I had a hard time seeing over the Rudearazzi people, so my friend Kathy and I raise our cameras over our head and we giggled like school girls.

McCain then shook hands with Ashley and asked if she was exhibiting. When she said it was pigs he said he wanted to see them, which I do have to say I thought was very nice of him to do...although since it was a spontaneous thing, I'm sure it caused a few moments of "Oh crap" for his poor secret service people, because you never know when there could be a rebel pig waiting around the corner. Since I know my way around the pig barn like I know my way around Target or the mall, I side-tracked and did a zig-zag and got to our pens first.

I stood there taking pictures as McCain, Cindy & Ashley walked towards her pens. As soon as he saw Chelsea he said "Well, I can guess who this is" and I had to laugh as I watched Cindy stand there looking back and forth at them as if trying to figure out how to tell them apart. They also took the time to talk to Austin and they made his day by asking if he was the older brother. LOL

As the Rudearazzi moved in closer, I started to get nervous because for the majority of the time I couldn't see my kids. Mama radar set in and I wanted, no, I needed to see them to be sure they were safe and not getting trampled by the Rudearazzis, so I stepped towards them for a closer look. This little (shorter than me) woman with the wire in her ear pushed me back. I gave her the "are you serious?" look and she said "Ma'am you need to stay back". I told her that those were my children over there and I was going to make sure they were safe. She tried to tell me they were safer there than here since they were next to Mr. McCain. I wanted to remind her that Reagan got shot once when there were secret service all around him, but didn't have time. I was going to check on my kids. She again pushed me back. She got the "I'd advise you stop doing that" look this time. I stepped forward again and yet again this woman put her arm across me as if that was going to stop me. I almost laughed, but instead I said "Look, I'm going to keep an eye on my kids whether you like it or not" I sized her up in my mind and decided that yea, if push came to shove, I think I can take her. She looked at me and said "Ma'am, I have a job to do" I looked directly at her that let her know I meant business and said "So do I" and I gave her the talk to the hand motion.

Check Mate.

We all know that Mama trumps a secret service person any day!

Here's a great shot I did manage to get of Ashley & Chelsea with them:

Soon the McCains left and we were left to talk about it, laugh about it and to come up with the name Rudearazzi (thanks for that one John). I do have to say a few things about that short period of time:

1. Thank you to John & Cindy McCain for being so kind to all 3 of my children. It never came up whether we were Republicans or Democrats, whether we liked him as a choice for President or not, or any of that stuff. The only political thing he did say was that he asked how old my girls were and they said they were 18 he talked to them about the importance of voting. period. They not only asked questions of my 3, they also took the time to listen and I appreciate that.

2. I was thrilled that my kids had this opportunity. Again, putting all political feelings aside....with this being the first time my girls will have the priviledge to vote, I was happy they got the chance to see that those running for office are not just larger than life images that you see on tv. They are real people. This helped them to see that they are basically people interviewing for a job, and we are the employers, and it's up to us to decide who we want to hire for this job.

3. I have a new found respect for anyone in the public eye. Having to deal with the Rudearazzi day in and day out would probably have me throwing back shots of vodka with my cheerios each morning. It makes me say "No wonder" to the Britneys, Lindsays, and others who have fallen down and are unable to cope. I can't imagine it's something you can ever really get used to. I'll stick to my stained t-shirts thank you very much.

We did have a lot of fun at the fair and we took 5,345,692,871 pictures, give or take a few million. I put the top ones in an online album. Feel free to check it out: http://targetphoto.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=a5b91x9.h10tx0x&x=0&y=-4hc6wy&localeid=en_US