On November 16th I rushed to get ready for one of the biggest days of my life. I was invited to have lunch with the first lady! I hurried and put my black and plaid dress on with a pair of black leggings. I zipped up my black boots and grabbed my jacket and rushed to the car. The ride to school seemed to take forever; it felt as if we would never get there. When I walked through the front doors of my school and there were people standing at the door waiting for me. Congratulations said one man. I hurried to my first period class. Class seemed to drag on just like the ride to school did. Finally the bell rang and I hurried to the main office. Another girl, Anisha who was also going from my school was standing there waiting. Finally the bus arrived. Anisha, a school official and I boarded a school bus for the ride to the Governor’s Mansion. I called my mom on my way there to let her know we were on our way.

At last we arrived. The bus driver let us out on the street. The air was cold and fogged up my sunglasses. I unfolded my cane, and we began to make our way to the mansion. After asking two police officers to point us in right direction we made it to the entrance. Everywhere you looked there were men dressed in black suits; I think they were secret service agents. I was told there were 3 or 4 on the roof. We had to wait awhile to get in. They had a list of special envelopes with our names on them. They called us one by one. We then entered the big gates to the yard of the governor’s mansion. The first thing we did was go to a table where they checked our bags, coats and cell phones. A man then came over with a metal detector and scanned us. He said put your arms out and then ran it up and down my body. I was then told I was good to go. I followed the path around to the carriage house. It was a very cold morning as I entered the mansion the warmth of the room felt so good. They told me to go hang my coat up as I walked in and then pointed me in the direction of the room where we would wait in until Mrs.Obama arrived.

We waited for awhile then a man came in and introduced himself as Duncan. He said he arranged the entire luncheon. He explained how we weren’t allowed to bring our phones purses or any cameras into the lunch. He told us to open our envelopes inside you will see a number and that is the table you would be seated at. I opened my envelope and looked at the card, table number one. I called my mom to tell her, she said that was good, we had no idea that I would be seated with the first lady, soon a lady came into the room. She said she was calling us by table and that then we would get up and go in to the lunch area. Eventually my table was called we all got up and started our way there; we had to go back outside but this time with no coat. It was pretty chilly out. As we walked up several little flights of stairs my heart began to race.

I went inside to find my seat. Each table had a card on a small stand on it with the number of the table. I found table number one. My table was next to the podium. Finally after about 30 minutes Mrs.Obama came out and gave a speech. Then came over and sat at the same table as me. I was so excited, I was thinking Oh my goodness I’m sitting with the First Lady, someone pinch me this must be a dream. She began to talk to us. There were about 10 of us and there was one girl between Mrs.Obama and I. She shared personal experiences and gave us advice on boys. I had the chance to talk to Mrs.Obama. I explained to her my story of how I had SJS and I gave her an SJS fact sheet, she said she had never heard of this before. She folded it and kept it. I was so excited to be able to present SJS awareness to the First Lady. Michelle signed our place cards and menus. We ate butter nut squash soup and had some really yummy salad and chatted. A lady then came over and got Mrs.Obama. We were then escorted to another room for some entertainment. There were 4 Broadway performers. Two from Wicked, and two from West Side Story. Each pair sang a song. They sang so amazing it was beautiful. Then we were dismissed and went back down to the carriage house. I got back on the bus after getting my phone purse and coat and called my mom. As soon as I got to the school my mom was there to get me with my dad. They were just as shocked as I was that I was sitting with Michelle Obama . My blonde hair gave me away on the TV.

I am so honored to have had such an amazing once in a life time opportunity. I never imagined being able to have lunch in the same room as the first lady of the United States of America. I am so thankful to Scott Labarr and Michelle Chacon. Without them I would never have had this great opportunity. On behalf of the National Federation of the blind I presented two Louis Braille coins to Mrs. Obama and Mrs. Ritter.