My 15 Seconds of Fame

Yeah, it’s true, I’m totally famous now. Look for me on National Television chatting it up with News Hour’s Jim Lehrer.

Okay, so what actually happened is that my friend Anna called me up and asked if I wanted to come do an interview with her. She said that their realtor had a friend who was doing a story on people who had bought homes since the housing market crashed and that they were trying to show that this has benefited some people. Since we bought our home right before Anna and her husband bought theirs, we were good candidates. So are a bunch of others in our ward, and Anna invited them, too, although the only other one who was able to make it was Shalane.

The funny thing in all this is that Anna never said and I never asked who or what the interview was for. I assumed it was for TV, but then when Craig assumed it was for a newspaper I realized that I had no idea which it actually was. Which posed a little bit of a dilemma that morning, as I wasn’t sure how dressed up to get—- should I wear black because it will make me look thinner? Should I get up early and shower? What about make-up? Should I go all out and wear foundation and powder and all that stuff? As it was, I finally settled for in-between. I did shower—- that just seemed more polite to whoever I was talking to. And I did my hair although I didn’t bother curling it (both because I was running out of time and also because it’s getting to that stage where curling it only looks good about half the time anyway). I put on eye makeup, but nothing else, which was a mistake. If I look greasy and shiny in the interview, I’m sorry for being gross. And no lipstick! What was I thinking?

Actually, what I was thinking is that I needed to get the house cleaned up before my mother-in-law came to watch the kids for me! It’s silly, because Donna has never once said a word to me about the state of my home and Craig has repeatedly assured me that she doesn’t care if the house is a mess, but I still can’t bring myself to NOT try to make it look cleaner/tidier/better. So I did dishes, wiped crumbs off the table, vacuumed up the worst of the cereal that always ends up on the floor, and even put some of the drop cloths that Craig scatters around the living room in the closet. Normally I get the house to a fairly presentable state before I go to bed, but Sunday night we’d stayed up late watching the Superbowl at some friends’ house, so our place got neglected. (Craig was sweet and stayed up that night helping me put the worst of the toys away, so he gets good hubby points for that. There was an Onion headline recently that said something about a husband who has almost earned something cool with all the points he’s earned “just for trying;” it was hilarious.) So, anyways, I was torn between making myself presentable and making my house presentable. I didn’t worry too much about the kids, at least, ‘cuz I like how they look in their pajamas. Does that make me a negligent mother?

Anyway, Donna arrived and I flitted out to my interview. When Jim Lehrer introduced himself to me I can honestly say that I had no idea who he was or that he was even the person who would be doing the interviews. I had never heard of him. I was a bit chagrined later, as every single person I have spoken to about this knows who he is. How come I’m the only one in the dark here? How embarrassing! I guess I need to start watching more TV...

I spent the first little while holding Anna’s baby so she could put on her make-up (smart girl!), and then hanging out with Anna and Shalane as the camera men tried to figure out the best set-up and put up lights and stuff. Finally we were all seated and ready to go, and it was a riot to watch as both Anna's and Shalane’s babies watched the boom mike waving over our heads. Jim asked each of us our story of how we moved here, rented, and then bought when things got so cheap. He asked us if we felt bad for those who had lost their homes, and I was the only one mean enough to say No. I told him that I didn’t think they should have bought what they couldn’t afford. What I didn’t say, but I wish I had, was that the people I do feel sorry for are the ones who bought while the market was so high and now are stuck with their homes until the market comes back up again. They’re the ones who are financially responsible and who aren’t getting any breaks for being such good people.

Anyway, the interview lasted about fifteen minutes. I suspect that the clip they’ll actually show will probably be about thirty seconds, and if I’m even in it I’ll be surprised. But you can bet I’ll be watching just in case!

The fascinating thing was what they did next, which was to move the camera around so it was facing Jim Lehrer and then have him repeat all the same questions to each of us (a girl was taking notes so he could ask the same things in the same order and to the same person), so then they can edit it all together and make it look cohesive. I didn’t know that’s what they did when they only had one camera! (I will point out that the entire time this was going on I was just killing myself that I hadn’t known that this was for National television or else maybe Craig could have taken the morning off to be there and see it all—what a thing for a TV Productions teacher to miss!)

After the interview was all over, we let the babies play on the floor and we hung out chatting while the cameraman got some footage of us being "natural." A bit weird, but I’m good at talking a lot, so it didn’t bother me too much. I did wonder if Shalane, who is a shy person, was just dying during the whole thing…

So that’s my story. I’ll be signing autographs after it airs. If you can’t pick me out, I’m the mean one who isn’t holding a baby.