I was inspired this morning to start a 30 day Blog Challenge. The questions are from an interesting little book I picked up a while ago at a thrift store. THE MOM & DAD QUESTION, CREATIVE QUESTIONS to HONOR the FAMILY by Bret Nicholaus and Paul Lowrie. I will post one question per day and I will give you an answer that came from times of our discussing this little book at our family‘s dinner table. I look forward to my reader’s responses, so YES by all means leave me YOUR answers in the comments section of this blog. Since The Holidays are coming up, maybe you can pick up your own copy of this book and bring it to your own family’s holiday celebrations 

Day 3 Question # 3: Is there anyone you know of in your family’s history who had an encounter with or knew someone famous?

Answer: Here is an excerpt from my book   AS CLEAR AS CLAIRE GETS, A CONVERSATION with the PAST that tells of how my mama met the president of Colombia.

When Fidel was 8 years old, papa and mama only had 2 children at the time. Mama studied to become a legal secretary and after she met papa, he told her that he didn’t want her to work outside the home.Mama went against his wishes and she began to prepare herself studying at home in secret. Not too long after that she heard that the president of Colombia,  Carlos Lleras Restrepo was going to make a public appearance at a rally in one of the towns surrounding Medellin. So she took my 2 brothers, Fidel and Alejandro with her because she wanted to speak to the president.

Once they arrived at the hall where they scheduled to hold the rally, the crowd was growing by the minute because everyone was anticipating the president’s arrival. once President Lleras Restrepo arrived, the military saluted him by playing Colombia’s national anthem and the whole place charged up with excitement as shouts went out in honor of the president. Mama stood at the front of the auditorium and she and my brothers waited for him to come close. Then she walked up to him as he stood directly in front of Mama and my brothers. Then she said in a dignified and respectful tone,

“Mr. president, I need to speak with you sir.” Suddenly she was rudely interrupted by a security guard who barked at her,

” Lady, you are too close. Please step back.” Mama was undaunted by his intimidating manner and she pressed on.

” Mr. president, sir, if you could give me a few minutes of your time… I must speak to you.” Again, she was pushed back and threatened by the same security guard. All of a sudden, the president intervened and spoke to my mama, saying to her in a warm and friendly tone,

” Yes ma’am  and what may I help you with at this moment?” Mama must have been thrilled at his acknowledgement but she kept on in her professional manner, never forgetting whom she was standing before,

“Well sir, I’d like to meet in private with you for a few minutes if that’s all right with you.” The president stopped to think for a minute; then he nodded as he reached into the pocket of his coat and retrieved his business card. He turned it over and wrote down some words as he told mama,

” Ma’am, I look forward to meeting with you this afternoon at three at The Hotel Nutibara, which is where I’m staying.”

That afternoon my Mama showed up at three for her interview with President Lleras Restrepo. After their brief meeting, he recommended Mama to Governor Octavio Arizmendi Posada who was the governor of the state of Antioquia. After a few days of enduring challenging exams, Mama landed a job working as an executive secretary of the treasury in the governor’s office in the state of Antioquia.