March 7, 2007
A Reunion with David Hasselhof!
I had a most delightful experience last night! On Sunday I flew from Sarasota to Las Vegas to speak to Allstate Insurance at their Distribution Leaders Forum. (They are a wonderful group of caring, committed folks, and they certainly know how to put on a first class conference. We stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel and were treated like royalty every moment of the meeting starting with persons to meet us when we got off the plane to prepaid tips to all the hotel staff! Their gift to each of us was a 7” by 7” digital picture frame to capture the memories of the event. These included a chocolate and wine tasting evening that was a gourmet’s delight! I was blessed to present four 90 minute sessions to their leaders on “Enhancing the Customer Experience,” based on my book with Ken Blanchard, “The Simple Truths of Service.”)
The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane in Las Vegas was a huge sign announcing that David Hasselhof was starring in “The Producers” at the Paris Hotel. Many of you know that I was David’s high school English teacher in 1968 and that summer directed him in his first high school play, “Once Upon a Mattress.” (Looking back, I was only four years older than he was, but of course I felt quite grown up as a new college graduate!)
One of my most fun memories of that summer performance was our difficulty in finding tights to fit David’s long, skinny legs –we ended up having to sew two pairs together! When I moved three years ago, in my files I found a letter he had written to me on the last day of his junior year. It said that when he came to La Grange and was put into my English class, he wanted to transfer out because he thought I was just too young to be a good teacher. However, he said he was so glad he had stayed because I was the best teacher he had ever had. My kids thought I could sell that letter since he had become so famous!
When I arrived at the hotel on Sunday, I asked the concierge to see if she could get me a ticket for David’s show on Tuesday night after I was finished presenting. Then I also asked if she could get a note to him to tell him I was going to be in the audience. She was able to get a ticket and she said she would try to get a message to his PR person, so I was thrilled. The next day, lo and behold, I had a message on my cell phone from David’s assistant that he was really eager to see me and would send someone to take me backstage after the show.
Of course, my audiences were duly impressed as I shared this with them the next day. One man came back after the break with a disposable camera to take a picture with David while another one brought me a picture of him that he found in a magazine to have him sign, and of course everyone was wanted to have a full report on Wednesday morning!
I went to the show last night which was wonderful (David plays the gay producer, a very different role from the romantic lead he played in our high school performance!) and then afterwards was taken backstage to meet all the actors and actresses and of course to have some time with David. He signed a picture for me with the words, “Your enthusiasm has carried me through..” He shared about his daughters who are 14 and 16, his parents, new career opportunities, and the house he is thinking about renting in Las Vegas with 8 bedrooms. He looks wonderful, and it was a thrill to see how one of my students has been so successful.
I left Las Vegas today for LA feeling so very blessed to be able to have such amazing experiences, to meet and have the privilege of touching so many wonderful people, and to be able to enjoy so many of the luxuries of this beautiful world of ours. I cannot imagine a more wonderful life! I think that each of us can find blessings in our lives every day – sometimes large like these of mine this week and sometimes small, but if we truly look for the blessings around us, they are always there. Who knows when your “David Hasselhof” experience might happen?
