Today a friend asked via text if I was secretly famous because I told her I had a deadline that might be taking over my morning tomorrow. I laughed and explained that the deadline was for the Church Music Contest (and it has been extended, which is why I can write this post instead of work on music).
It got me thinking though about a time I was secretly famous. I was actually telling Kevin about it just last night because I saw an article that reminded me about it, and now you all get to know the story too!
It all started in August 2002 when my older sister and I were flying from New Jersey to Utah. Our family was moving back home after my dad's sabbatical, and my sister and I had stuck around an extra week to go to Girl's Camp. It was my first time on an airplane, and it was all very exciting, if a bit turbulent. As I looked down I could see patchworks of fields. As I looked up I could see us flying through puffs of clouds. And we even had a meal at dinnertime!
As we got closer and closer to Salt Lake, I found I needed to use the bathroom more and more. Finally I decided this was my last chance for what could be a long while, so I went to the back of the plane. The bathroom was a tiny, strange nook that seemed like it might blow off the plane at any second. When I was done I found a button that I guessed would flush the toilet, but with the loud whooshing noise it made it seemed entirely likely that the bathroom had suddenly broken off and would careen to the ground at any second. That or make the plane explode. Once I was sure that I hadn't broken the plane or bathroom, I washed my hands and figured out how to get out. There was a small group of flight attendants right outside the bathroom and they said hi to me. Wide-eyed and still spooked, I told them that I had been afraid I had pushed the wrong button, and that made them laugh. Then I went back to my seat and finished the flight home.
Fast forward to November 2003. I was lying on the couch reading the newest issue of the Reader's Digest. At the end of each featured story, they included funny anecdotes that were a paragraph or two long. I read one of those anecdotes and then stopped to think.
"Flying over the Midwest in the summer." I had done that.
"A turbulent flight." It had certainly been turbulent.
"A young teenager on her first flight used the bathroom." I wasn't sure that I looked old enough to be a young teenager, but I suppose that's what I was.
"When she came out, I helped her to her seat and talked about the flight being turbulent. She responded that she thought she had pushed the wrong button." Okay, so it hadn't quite happened that way as far as I remembered. But maybe the author had taken artistic license. Or maybe I hadn't noticed her helping me to my seat. I didn't need the help, after all.
I mean, of course other young teenagers have probably thought they pushed the wrong button when they flushed the toilet. But the details seemed awfully similar to my own experience.
Unless I was mistaken, I had just been the subject of a little Reader's Digest story. I was secretly famous!
Of course, there's no point being secretly famous if you don't tell anyone. My older sister got a real kick out of it and emailed all her friends to tell them of my silliness on the airplane. My parents laughed about it and reminded me that it wasn't that embarrassing, especially if I didn't make a big deal about it. And, hours later, I wondered if there was a way I could get any of the money the author had gotten for submitting the story. It was my funny comment that got her the money, after all. (I never looked into it.)
At any rate, it seems like a new generation of young teenagers might not be as startled by flushing the toilet as I had been. As I was telling Kevin last night, a group of BYU professors has just developed a quieter airplane toilet.
But I'm sure they'll all find ways to be secretly famous, too.
It got me thinking though about a time I was secretly famous. I was actually telling Kevin about it just last night because I saw an article that reminded me about it, and now you all get to know the story too!
It all started in August 2002 when my older sister and I were flying from New Jersey to Utah. Our family was moving back home after my dad's sabbatical, and my sister and I had stuck around an extra week to go to Girl's Camp. It was my first time on an airplane, and it was all very exciting, if a bit turbulent. As I looked down I could see patchworks of fields. As I looked up I could see us flying through puffs of clouds. And we even had a meal at dinnertime!
As we got closer and closer to Salt Lake, I found I needed to use the bathroom more and more. Finally I decided this was my last chance for what could be a long while, so I went to the back of the plane. The bathroom was a tiny, strange nook that seemed like it might blow off the plane at any second. When I was done I found a button that I guessed would flush the toilet, but with the loud whooshing noise it made it seemed entirely likely that the bathroom had suddenly broken off and would careen to the ground at any second. That or make the plane explode. Once I was sure that I hadn't broken the plane or bathroom, I washed my hands and figured out how to get out. There was a small group of flight attendants right outside the bathroom and they said hi to me. Wide-eyed and still spooked, I told them that I had been afraid I had pushed the wrong button, and that made them laugh. Then I went back to my seat and finished the flight home.
Fast forward to November 2003. I was lying on the couch reading the newest issue of the Reader's Digest. At the end of each featured story, they included funny anecdotes that were a paragraph or two long. I read one of those anecdotes and then stopped to think.
"Flying over the Midwest in the summer." I had done that.
"A turbulent flight." It had certainly been turbulent.
"A young teenager on her first flight used the bathroom." I wasn't sure that I looked old enough to be a young teenager, but I suppose that's what I was.
"When she came out, I helped her to her seat and talked about the flight being turbulent. She responded that she thought she had pushed the wrong button." Okay, so it hadn't quite happened that way as far as I remembered. But maybe the author had taken artistic license. Or maybe I hadn't noticed her helping me to my seat. I didn't need the help, after all.
I mean, of course other young teenagers have probably thought they pushed the wrong button when they flushed the toilet. But the details seemed awfully similar to my own experience.
Unless I was mistaken, I had just been the subject of a little Reader's Digest story. I was secretly famous!
Of course, there's no point being secretly famous if you don't tell anyone. My older sister got a real kick out of it and emailed all her friends to tell them of my silliness on the airplane. My parents laughed about it and reminded me that it wasn't that embarrassing, especially if I didn't make a big deal about it. And, hours later, I wondered if there was a way I could get any of the money the author had gotten for submitting the story. It was my funny comment that got her the money, after all. (I never looked into it.)
At any rate, it seems like a new generation of young teenagers might not be as startled by flushing the toilet as I had been. As I was telling Kevin last night, a group of BYU professors has just developed a quieter airplane toilet.
But I'm sure they'll all find ways to be secretly famous, too.
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