Ships Passing in the Night

So apparently I've barely missed several chances to meet Archbishop Tutu. My mojo for meeting famous people is waning. I'm entirely blaming this on Father Terry, though, who has been hanging out with him all week. They saw "Amazing Grace" together, they were at a funeral, and Tutu officiated at Friday morning mass, which is, I don't know, THREE MINUTES from where I stay and I would totally have gone, had I known. But did Father Terry mention it? No, he did not.

So when I took him to task for this, pointing out that it was a long-held dream to meet the archbishop and he might have given me a heads-up, he said, "I had no idea! You should have told me!"

Now on the one hand, I like that Tutu is apparently just one of his boys and he forgets that he is, you know, a towering moral figure and Nobel Prize winner. However, when you're talking regularly with a pilgrim who has come 12,000 miles because of her fascination with the South African freedom movement, you would think it would occur to you to let her know when her hero is around.

"But you should have said something!" he insisted. Look, Father Terry, says I, I didn't say anything because I thought it was a pipe dream. It would be like if you came to America and told me you wanted to meet President Clinton; I probably can't arrange that for you. If, perchance, I am having lunch with Bill, I would probably tell you where to be and when. If you came as a student of the civil rights movement and I was having coffee with John Lewis and Andy Young, I don't think you would specifically have to tell me you'd like to meet them for me to know that would probably be a big deal to you. I'm just saying.

So I said look, since you favor explicit requests, if you're having a friendly game of cards or a round of drinks with Mandela, I WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO MEET HIM. Geez.

So bummed. I was this close to receiving communion from Archbishop Tutu. I would have talked about that for the rest of my life. For that reason alone, you can probably all be grateful that I missed it.