Uncle Ted
Let me clarify that I am in no way related to Senator Ted Kennedy, who as many now know passed away late last night. However, I did affectionately, and somewhat sarcastically, refer to him as “Uncle Ted” both in my personal life and to his face when the occasion presented itself.
As many people who know me are aware, I wrote for the Washington Post’s society column “Out & About” for several years with one of the best writers around, Roxanne Roberts. Roxanne is a working mom who has covered Washington’s society for many, many years so by the time I came on to ghost write the column, she was certainly happy to let a precocious twenty-something spend her week nights out sipping cocktails and making small talk with the likes of Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld, Julian Bond and all manner of other Washington insider. And I plunged into this world most willingly. The experience in a nutshell was at once terrifying, intimidating, humbling, thrilling, and mind-blowing and I am admittedly a lucky young lady to have gained these amazing one-on-one experiences with some of the foremost minds, voices and personalities of our day.
But one I will always remember, as so many people are saying today, is Ted Kennedy. Ted and I didn’t always have the smoothest most agreeable relationship. I lambasted him in the column after he failed to show up to several very worthy charity events he had hither to RSVPed as attending. My issue was that he shouldn’t say he’s going to be there and not show up. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Thus, my first experience with Uncle Ted was when his press secretary called me up at the Post and reamed me out for “unfairly accusing” Senator Kennedy, who just so happened to be screaming, “Who is this Laura Thomas person anyway?” in the background at a volume I could clearly hear. While I wanted to die a little inside hearing this, I staunchly held my ground on the matter and, I think, displayed a maturity and confidence well beyond my years at the time.
My next encounter with Uncle Ted happened to be at Buzz Aldrin’s 75th Birthday party on the very night of President Bush’s second inauguration in 2005. Essentially, all of the major Dems were hiding out at the Four Seasons in Georgetown in a small private room to lick their wounds and fete the very sweet Mr. Buzz.
There were only about thirty people in attendance so it was hard for me to hide when Senator Kennedy walked in with his aide (who knew me). He walked right up to me and said: “So you’re Ms. Laura Thomas. Pleasure to meet you in person. Tell me about yourself.” This simple declaration scared the bejesus out of me, but he seemed so warm, friendly and genuine and really like a big old Grandpa, that I started to spill my guts about how my parents lived in Westford, MA, my grandmother in Connecticut considered the Kennedys one of us (she also considers herself a member of the NAACP) and how much I love spending time in Martha’s Vineyard and sailing and how my family refers to him as “Uncle Ted” amongst ourselves. The next thing I knew he had his arm around my shoulder and he was introducing me to his friend Sandra (that would be Justice Sandra Day O’Connor whom I wrote a term paper about in middle school) saying he was my “Uncle Ted.” He then went on to regale us with stories about sailing with his brother. “Which brother?” I asked. “Oh, Jack of course,” he said. Oh, yes of course. (?!) It was one of the best parties I ever attended let alone covered and, might I add, everyone was about 55 years my senior.
Suffice to say, Uncle Ted was always a friendly face in Washington whenever my awkward little 23-year-old self rolled into a party populated by the people who I only knew through my school history books. And besides, he told great stories and had a great laugh. I’ll miss you, Uncle Ted.
Source: pentamento.blogspot.com
