I’ve loved the glamour and excitement of celebrity for as long as I can remember.
My few encounters with the rich and famous have been retold and relived more often than I care to admit. Brushes with fame in the form of Roger Moore, Denzel Washington, David Suzuki and Todd Field have been cherished, embellished and repeated ad nauseum to my friends and family.
About five years ago, I hit the celebrity motherlode. My husband and I moved from our trendy condo on Bay Street to a little apartment block half-way around the world in Sydney, Australia. I thought my celebrity sightings were finished.
A few months after moving in however, I was hurrying down the stairs to the beach when I came face-to-face with an attractive, ridiculously famous movie actress – Cate Blanchett. I swear I stopped breathing and screeched to an immediate halt. She was carrying a suitcase and leading a team of movers up the stairs. She smiled politely at me and said hello. She was my new upstairs neighbour.
The beach forgotten, I ran back to my apartment to call everyone I had ever met. I began plotting ways to “accidently” bump into her again so I could get her autograph.
I soon discovered that the scheming was unnecessary. In no time at all, I’d experienced my second, third, and fourth encounters with the Oscar-winning actress. In fact, I started seeing her everywhere: in the hall, parking lot, at the park with her husband and newborn, even in the grocery store. She was always quick to say hello, strolling down the beach in jeans and a t-shirt, doing mundane chores just like everyone else. No limos ever pulled up to drop off handsome co-stars and there were no paparazzi camped outside the building or going through her garbage. When someone recognized her, they would wave but no one ever rushed over to ask for her autograph or to snap a photo. She didn’t behave like a celebrity should behave! As a result, my movie star neighbour became just another face on the street.
After a year, my husband and I packed up once again to move back to Toronto. While leading a team of movers down the stairs from my apartment, I ran into Cate. I smiled a polite goodbye to her and hurried on down the stairs; I didn’t have time to stop and chat… Keannu Reeves had been spotted down the street!
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