My niece, Stephanie, and I attended the Indiana Governor's Conference for Women in Indianapolis. The conference brought together business women and entrepreneurs to share ideas and inspiration with the guidance of well-known speakers and business leaders. The conference was enlightening and indeed inspiring. But for my niece and I the secret draw was our desire to meet Martha Stewart. We are huge fans. When we learned she would be the keynote speaker we were in.
Martha was to sign books before the luncheon. As one would imagine the line for the book signing was long. We waited as patiently as possible, clutching our newly purchased books as we inched ever so slowly toward our goal. Our chances were not looking good, when suddenly the line moved quite a bit leaving us up next. We were just a few feet from Martha. Nervously, Stephanie and I glanced at each other while trying to figure out what we would say without gushing or sounding crazy when it was announced Martha had to stop so she could speak at the luncheon. The two year old inside me wanted to scream, "NOooo". Thankfully, I didn't. I remained composed and tried to act like a grown up, but I was quite disappointed. We both were.
Although we didn't get our shining moment, we did greatly enjoy the talk Martha gave with Charlotte Beers, another speaker at the conference. Ms. Beers has had a successful career in advertising, as well as, serving as Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs under the direction of former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Martha and Charlotte have been friends for many years. Their talk was both entertaining and inspiring.
When the luncheon concluded Stephanie and I went in search of tea before the afternoon sessions began. Taking the stairs to a lower floor we exited next to an elevator. A moment later the elevator doors opened and out walked Martha surrounded by some staff. My niece and I looked at each other knowing this was our chance when a rather imposing woman abruptly approached Martha and asked to take a photo with her. Martha graciously obliged, as a staff member quickly snapped the photo. The women then vigorously shook Martha's hand and gave her a bear hug much to Martha's surprise. At that point Stephanie and I realized we could not breech Martha's personal space any further. We wanted her to enjoy her time in Indianapolis and to want to come back. We shrugged and watched as Martha walked down the hall with our chance of meeting her evaporate. So close, and yet…
During Martha's talk we learned she had visited Long's Bakery that morning for donuts. A favorite bakery of our family. If only we had known…
Martha, thank you for visiting our fine city. We do hope you enjoyed Indianapolis and will come back again soon. We would be happy to show you around.
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