Starstruck

Working in the Church Office Building comes with its own unique set of chance encounters. Like running into General Authorities.

Some of you might be surprised and think that I would be rubbing shoulders with them every day, but that's definitely not the case. They're busy men. Most of the time, when we deliver paperwork to them, we only ever see their secretaries.

Well, yesterday, I had to take a magazine layout design to Elder L. Tom Perry for approval. So I sauntered over to the Church Administration Building (another myth to debunk: only the Presiding Bishopric has offices in the Office Building), cheerfully told the security guard what my business was, and found Elder Perry's office, fully expecting to be greeted by his secretary.

Only... there wasn't anyone at the desk. There was the desk. Her nameplate. Elder Perry's nameplate. No secretary. But the door to the left of the desk was open, and I could hear voices, so I peeked around the corner and tapped lightly on the doorframe. Elder Perry turned around and said, "Well, hello!"

And at that moment, my mind decided to run through all the most useless information it possibly could: my skirt is too casual. My hair is flat. My hands seemed completely alien to me. Whoa, he's really tall. Are boots okay to wear to work? Thank goodness I'm wearing my favorite shirt.

Oh hey, I have papers in my hands. That grounded me. The only thing I could manage to get out of my mouth was a description of why I was there: I have design layout approvals for him from the New Era.

Elder Perry, hoping to put me at ease, I think, made a joke: "At first I thought you were here to lay me out [as in, flat]."

You know how I have that sometimes witty sense of humor that I got from my dad? Yeah, I think it took a vacation or something. A warp-speed, spur-of-the-moment trip to Bermuda, leaving me completely stranded without it. My brain, still caught up in the "whoa he's tall" loop scanned up his roughly 6'4" height and could only smirk: "Laying him out would be unlikely." But of course, nothing---and I mean absolutely nothing---came out my mouth.

Plus, I couldn't even shake his hand. My hands were full of papers. And for lack of any verbal repartee, all I could do was give the papers to him, which meant that his hands were then full of papers. No handshake.

So, still feeling a little disoriented---because apparently my brain subsequently decided to follow my humor to Bermuda---I turned horrifyingly awkwardly and left the room, hurrying back to the snug security of my job where I knew exactly what I'm doing and how to do it.

I felt like a fangirl or something. Normally, I'm really good around authority figures. I'm not easily intimidated or cowed. When I have a reason to be somewhere, I'm comfortable being there. But this is one of the authority figures. And the situation was far from protocol.

But this story isn't over.

As soon as I got back up to my floor, one of the employees stopped me and asked if I'd ever delivered to the First Presidency. No, I hadn't. Well, since it's a little bit trickier than your average tell-the-guard-and-find-the-secretary procedure, she had me turn right back around and come with her. As we walked back into the Church Administration Building, who should be coming out but Elder Perry!

I didn't entirely mean to, but I subconsciously took half a step to the side so that I was partly behind the other Magazines employee. He saw me anyway. And in his usual, cheerful, Elder Perry style, he greeted both of us and complimented us on being beautiful young women. (Oh good, the skirt wasn't such a travesty of informality after all, and apparently the hair was okay, too.) We smiled and thanked him and passed on by. Side note: He's still super tall.

And that, my friends, is my not-so-glorious first encounter with a General Authority.

Oh, and I almost bumped into Bishop Burton this morning on my way to the elevators, but I sidestepped to the other badge-entry-gate and smiled (remarkably composedly) at him on my way past. A much better experience, if you ask me. :)