We Knew Him When

Living in Marin, I got used to seeing famous people in the grocery store.  

 

For a while, Andre Agassi and Steffi Graff lived next door; we'd drive down our road behind his shiny convertible with the top down, watching him smile at passersby.  Dana Carvey and Peter Coyote and I worked out every morning at the same small gym; we and the other gym rats shared post workout beverages on the benches outside.  

 

When The Cuters were in high school,  I gave Phil Lesh and George Lucas the parent tours for 8th grade applicants.  Jerry Garcia and I shared a lovely conversation one holiday season, waiting in line at the art supply store.  

 

Grace Slick liked the pet accessories store in our small downtown; she'd sit in the comfy chair with cats in her lap and a floppy hat on her head. Carlos Santana was a mainstay, appearing everywhere and charming everyone.  Halle Berry rented my friends' home one year.

 

It was commonplace and it was fun and it hasn't happened in a long time.  Then, out of half an ear listening to sports talk television, I heard Will Venable.  Yes, TBG confirmed it was our Will Venable in the news.  He's the manager of the Chicago White Sox, a mediocre team that is just a few games away from the World Series, it seems.  

 

He's also a Marin kid.  TBG and I watched him play basketball from 8th grade on, from CYO through high school, a boy who could dunk the ball and come up smiling.  The Venn Diagram of his circle and Big Cuter's overlapped at the edges.

 

I've never been a White Sox fan; my heart belongs to the Cubbies.  But this connection and the Cinderella story of the team that shouldn't be there makes me feel as if the Venn Diagram of my life and his might now be intersecting, too.

 

Life is surprising that way. 

San Diego Union Tribune