Hang Time With Hillary

I had a pretty clear idea of what I was going to wear to this event, but by the time I got all dressed up, I felt too dressed up. Lance got home, and I thought we both looked very dull in our grey attire, so I suggested we shake it up a bit. I ended up putting on my festive floral mexican blue jeans (handmade by genius Linda Holt), but kept the gray and maroon silk brocade top with straps. I took off my heels and popped on my red and tan cowboy boots. Lance threw on black jeans and this retro blue and black
short sleeved shirt. We looked, and felt, much more like ourselves!

The invite did say “business attire”. So we got witty comments like, “Oh, you dressed up for the event!” all night. (You know, being an artist means being artistic. That’s the best part! You get to set your own fashion for the occassion and no one is surprised…) And Hillary’s executive director wanted my pants! So, once again, the clear message: be me. (You be you, too.)

Alright, alright. You don’t want to hear about my clothes! You want to hear about WHAT SHE’S LIKE. Is she real? Is she sassy? What kind of pants was SHE wearing?

Well, here’s how it all went down.

Drove to beautiful homes in the windy (and windy) hills of Austin. This event was held at the home of Roy and Mary Spence. Their home is all white, inside and out, like a big vanilla ice cream. The best part is that there are many, many windows and they do not have a lot of furniture. It is all sparse and open and well appointed with interesting, colorful, swirly art to accent every room. Because of the windows, it has an outdoor feeling. Lots of light everywhere. To enter the house, you walk down a half moon drive and walk through french iron gates into a green, bush filled garden. The path to the front door splits into a circle around a spiraled bush garden, well manicured twisted shapes, which is a nice centerpiece surrounded by bright, happy Gerber Daisies in hot pink, yellow and orange.

Up steps to the front doors which mirror the feel of the gates, strong and steely in black laquer, but with glass windows symetrically placed for viewing in and out. We were behind three gentlemen in suits as we walked in, where Roy was greeting folks at the door. After he placed who we were in his mind, he gave us big hugs and welcomed us warmly.

Lance and I were some of the first ones there, so Roy sent us out to the back. And the back is really beautiful. Like walking into a glimpse down into Eden.

Imagine walking down marble steps into an open area of sky, high above your head, high over the city of Austin. And as far as you could see, to your left, to your right, until you just can’s see any farther, green treetops spread out below you. The tree line eventually kisses the skyline of downtown.

The sun was reflecting gold off of all the buildings, and there was a tinge of pink mixed with the periwinkle blue of twilight…not a cloud in sight. I commented that it looked like we’d found El Dorado.

While walking down more steps and being in awe of the vast, swallowing sky, there is a kidney bean shaped crystal clear swimming pool, still as still can be, and the wide, open space of a white, mult-level stone patio.

Oh, it’s a really great place to mingle!

There were candles on red table clothed tables, and a long serving table with sugar glazed carrots, roasted miniature squash, spinach dip and toasted bread squares, and grilled asparagus.

Servers were walking around with wine and sparkling water. I had to ask what was in the tumblers; I thought they were gin and tonics! The server I stopped said, “That’s Pelligrino…” and I immediately thought , “Oh, Pelligrino… an alcoholic drink,” and then before I could say so, I was giggling, realizing it was water. I let her in on the joke and she smiled like I was a nutjob! Can’t blame her a bit, really.

I’ll have to write more later…I want to go get the girls’ lunches ready for school. Bye!

THIRTY MINUTES LATER…

Ok, io is still asleep and Lily is off to school. Lance has left for work. The house is so quiet except for the gentle humming of the computer brain-thing down by my feet.

So, back to my story. We started talking with all kinds of interesting people. Lance ran into a friend he hadn’t seen in ten years, and the chancellor of UT told us about his push button Corvette. Then we chatted with other parents about nursing and schools and such, and talking with some cool chicks about the Olivia project. This entire time of chatting and laughing and kissing on Lance, I’m sipping on a glass of white wine, which is just ludicrous since I haven’t had a bite to eat yet.

So, in other words, I’m getting LOOPY!

But, I was having so much fun, I didn’t mind being a little loopy. As it was, I had just found Liz, the sweetest person you could ever hope to call friend, and we were chatting with some of her friends, when all of a sudden, there was an air of change. We were standing at the top of the patio, near the house, when the back door sort of exploded with a flow of people, and there she was, Mrs. Clinton.
Talking to someone next to me, and I realized I was next in an unintentional line to meet her.

I was saying to myself, “Ok, you are not tipsy. You are going to focus…FOCUS!” I clicked my heels together and told Liz…”Let’s get our picture together with her…I want to be with you in the picture…”

And then, viola! There she was! Standing in front of me.

Roy was next to her, making kind introductions, and he says to Hillary,

“Hillary, this is the greatest musician in the universe!” (to which I was staring at him like HE was tipsy!)

And she did one of those “Ohhh…” looks and then our eyes locked and WHOOSH! We were THERE.

Do you know what I mean? Do you know when you look in certain people’s eyes and they are NOT FOOLING AROUND because they are HIGHLY INTELLIGENT and they’ve SEEN IT ALL and so looking into eyes gives them the immediate INFORMATION they need about YOU.

Except sometimes you meet those kinds of people and they also have COMPASSION mixed in those eyes, a softness, a readiness and curiousity…”WHO ARE YOU?” their eyes seem to say.

That’s what that was like. I’m not kidding. Of course, this all happens in the blink of an eye (ha ha..had to throw that in there!)

And she says to me, “Terrific!”

And I say, “Do you like to sing?”

She says, “Yes.”

I say, “I bet you’re an…alto…”

And she says, “No. I used to sing in the church choir, but the director said to me, “Hillary, it’s best if you just mouth the words”.

(Group laughter here.)

Then I look, and lock, into her eyes again, and I say, seriously,

“Mrs. Clinton, I have a lot of questions for you, but I can see that you have many people waiting to meet you.”

And she responds, “I want to hear your questions. Don’t worry. We’re going to get to all the questions.”

And I think there was a photo taken, maybe several, with me and Liz. Then she was swept up and off to the next smiling faces. (I do talk with her again…hang on.)

Then it was more mingling time. Lance and I had gotten seperated, so I went back to him, and we decided to walk over to the most intriguing man at the party. (Every party we go to, Lance and I decide who the most intriguing person is in our eyes, male and female, then we go hang out with them.)

Across on the other side of the pool, seated, was a dapper looking fellow in a soft yellowish/greenish
spring suit. He was completely bald, and had on big round glasses. Perhaps 50ish. He was our man. He stood out immediately and Lance and I hardly had to say a word. Off we went.

Of course, when we meet the most intriguing people at a party, we tell them so. And he was very pleased to know this. He stood up and introduced himself (Mr. Green) and we chatted quite comfortably, and then I asked him if I could run my hand over his head. It was so inviting! As he stood, I realized he had a cane, and he told us he had been in chemo. He said it so casually, as if we all had been taking chemo. We talked about Lance’s dad having lost his leg last year, and we met this man’s son (also very nice) and I rubbed his shiny head. He had a nice shape to his head, and it had a wee bit of stubble all over it, so it felt good. I think he was enjoying this, we all were happy, and then he introduced us to his beautiful wife, Jan Bullock, who used to be married to Bob Bullock!!! (If you’re not from Texas, this may not mean much, He is a legendary man of politics here). She had just heard me sing at the luncheon for legislator’s wives, so it was a nice connection and she was very pleased that we had given her husband the monikor of most intriguing man at the party. We liked them very much.

INTERMISSION

Got to take io to school and get ready to go on KUT today. I’ll try to finish later this afternoon.