You Never Know Where The Path May Lead…

It’s a saying my Mother used to say to me and this weekend, even though I knew it was at least a little true before, I learned the lady knew of what she spoke.

As part of my little “Things Going To Change Around Here” motto earlier this year, I vowed to step out of my shell a little, make some new friends, try some new experiences.

This year at cheerleading, I made a friend named Jenny. I don’t really make a lot of new friends, ever. Then she became a really good friend. I always smile when I see her, she’s one of the happiest people I know and she’s funny as hell. Jenny is also heavily involved in the Dallas International Film Festival and she asked me to volunteer. I’m not one who normally volunteers for things, but given my dedication to get a little out of my comfort zone, I agreed.

I’m not the biggest film buff, I’ll admit it. But I do have some movies that I have watched a million times over. I thought I’d just be driving a few people around, maybe a few little parties, not a big deal, right?

Yeah, about that.

Thanks to Jenny, I ended up on the VIP list meaning I was going to be in charge of taking care of someone important, or in this case “someones” that the Film Festival wanted to make sure were taken care of. They said they needed somebody “elegant” for this particular pairing.

I know, stop laughing. I told you Jenny was funny.

Also, she is really pretty…she’s the knockout blonde in this picture:

Then the text came. “Do you want to be assigned to James Keach?” After I recovered from fainting (and if you don’t know his name, among numerous acting credits and other movies, he produced one of my favorite movies of all time, “Walk the Line”) I happily accepted.

And then I freaked the hell out.

What on earth would I talk to this man about? Not only is he an award winning producer/director who would be driving around with me in my car, he is also married to Jane Seymour. (Please let’s not get me started on my love of all things Jane Seymour….Dr. Quinn? Somewhere in Time? The Wedding Crashers? I almost passed out again…)

Then to add to the mix, I found out yet another of my favorite producers would be joining him, Trevor Albert. Don’t know the name? Think Groundhog Day, Because of Winn Dixie…among many others. My partner in crime Wylly was in charge of getting him around…but still…they were traveling together so we had to take turns making sure they were both where they needed to be when they needed to get there.

I tried not to think about it for fear of freaking myself out. The days before I shoved the whole thing to the back of my mind. I’ve met a lot of really impressive people in my life. I’ve met presidents (really), CEO’s of big companies, a few best selling authors. But Hollywood? No, I’d never really met any Hollywood types (Tom Cruise excluded of course…but let’s just forget about that one…)

On Friday night I headed to the airport to pick them up. I’ll be honest, I was nervous but I was determined not to show it. And it all went smoothly too, with the exception of one little snafu. I was tracking them on flight tracker as I made my way to the airport. I kept checking the gate and the estimated arrival time obsessively. (Gate C4, Arrival 8:40) That, my dear friends, is when my iPhone decided to jack with me and freeze up. I ran into the airport at 8:39 at Gate C4….I think you know where this is going….gate change. Big one. They were now at C25, twenty one gates away and I? Was in my trademark stilettos. So I teetered as fast as I could to the gate, got there with about :30 seconds to spare and managed to look at least slightly composed.

Turns out I really shouldn’t have worried. Those guys? Two of the nicest people I have met in ages. Sure they make big movies and live amazing lives, but they were so normal. No strained conversations, no “A List” type behavior, just two guys who made a really great movie trying to get the word out. Both of them were so interesting, so open and willing to talk about a world I have no idea about.

The film they screened is not released yet but it was probably one of the best movies I’ve seen in years. The title is “Waiting For Forever” and I’m telling you right now, it is one of the sweetest, most unexpected love stories I’ve seen in years. It was funny, tragic, heartfelt and a million things all tied up into one movie, all with a beautiful ending.

So I guess the point of this very long winded post is that you just never know what the next experience is if you leave yourself open to it. Life is an adventure, you just have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone every now and again and embrace it because you never know who you will meet.

Just don’t do it in high heels.