My cousin and I stood in line to meet President Jimmy Carter. It was Monday afternoon, July 27th, at Powell's Bookstore in Portland Oregon. I was told I couldn't see the President unless I had a book for him to sign. I bought his book, A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety, so that I could see him.
As the line slowly wound around outside and then inside the building, I texted my son the math problem: If a man signs 1500 books in two hours, how much time does each book get? Answer: 4.8 seconds. I'm not sure I got my full 4.8 seconds with President Carter, but I did snap a very blurry photo of my cousin with him. Well, he's in the background at a table busily signing books. Sill, it was a thrill!
I've always been a fan of Jimmy Carter, but reading his autobiography was interesting. Fun to hear about his childhood experiences and about his career as a nuclear engineer. But interesting to read his account of what he accomplished and tried to accomplish while in office, and have so many of those issues come up in recent news, such as comprehensive health care and renewed relationships with Cuba. I was sad to hear of his cancer diagnosis announced just last week, especially after reading about his family history of pancreatic cancer in his book.
He certainly has lead a full life.
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