I Suppose I Would Have Prefeeeerrrrrred Matt Lauer

As I plopped into my seat at my gate at the Atlanta airport yesterday morning (on my way to Providence, RI) I was relieved to not have to schlep my briefcase anymore. Then, I looked in the seat beside me and had that "Hmmmm. Don't I know you?" feeling toward the distinguished man sitting to my left.

Then. It hit me! HEY! That's Harry Smith from CBS! Cool! I was on the phone with David and he said, "Introduce yourself."

No way. I'm waaaaay too cool for THAT! ;-] I continued to remain calm.

He was actually MUCH more handsome and distinguished than he appears on the CBS Early Show. Luckily, he spent most of his time on his Blackberry, so I had plenty of time to stare and confirm that he WAS Harry Smith. He even went all old school and broke out a tiny, yellow legal pad and wrote down notes. I was very tempted to sneak a peek.

He got up and walked to get something to eat and asked us all if we would watch his briefcase and backpack. (I guess we all looked honest and trustworthy???)

He made very pleasant small talk with all of us. "Is it ALWAYS this cold in Atlanta? This is CRAZY!"

THEN. The announcement was made that his flight to Meridian, MS had been cancelled. He handled it in stride but had to stop eating his lunch. He said, "Ah man. You've GOT to be kidding me! This messes me up. BIG time. How close is Jackson to Meridian?" We all told him that it would be about an hour away.

I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why a national news anchor would be heading to charming little Meridian.

I made SURE to watch The Early Show this morning (even though I'm more of a Today Show kinda gal) and THERE he was...calmly strolling and chatting with John McCain. Wow. He didn't looked frazzled at all.

He's able to unceremoniously eat a stale, airport kiosk, ham and cheese sandwich AND re-book his own flight...oh, aaaaaaand casually interview a presidential candidate.

I guess that's why they pay him the big bucks.