Ted Kennedy, the Lion of the Senate, has touched so many lives throughout his long career. I had a strange, very brief encounter with the Good Senator from Massachusettes a few years ago, and it's a story that will always be close to my heart.
I was taking a class at The New School here in NYC. One week, the floor where we usually have class was closed off for some kind of event or lecture that was supposed to happen later that night, so we were relocated one floor up.
But the men's rooms were out of order on that floor, so if we had to go, we were told to just go to the men's room on the next floor down, where we usually have class.
I usually got to class really early, so by the time class was about to start, I had maybe three bottles of water in me. So eventually, I've gotta piss like a racehorse.
I love that phrase, by the way. Whenever someone says they have to piss like a racehorse, I think they mean outside, down on all fours with a 4' 6" Guatemalan guy on their back.
So I'm up on 8, bathrooms are down on 7. I walk down the stairwell, go into the bathroom, answer nature's call. Rather than walk up the stairs like someone who wasn't incredibly lazy, I push the elevator button to go up one floor.
And as the elevator doors open, standing right in front of me inside the elevator is Senator Ted Kennedy.
To say the least, I was not expecting Ted Kennedy to be in the elevator.
I wasn't quite sure what to say or do, so I said the first thing that seemed right. I looked at him and said, "Senator"
I then moved aside so he could get out of the elevator. And as he exited the elevator, he didn't speak, just gave a little nod and smile, and walked down the hallway.
I always admired the way he did that. Classy guy, warm smile, just a decent human. He will be missed by me, for sure.