Smart Carnations, Or: How to Meet Important People

There are some people in this world who always seem to meet the right people at the right time.  The truth is, these people are so socially confident that they're willing to talk to whoever is near them, and some of those people happen to be "the right people at the right time."

My husband is one of these socially confident people.

He is heavily involved with the local rugby league program, so we went off to London this weekend for the rugby league Challenge Cup at Wembley Stadium, so that he could meet-and-greet with other representatives for the international rugby league scene.  This was only my second rugby game ever, the first having been at a game that my husband played in back in Boston where the crowd would have been lucky to top a full dozen.  At Wembley, we were two out of 79,000.

Now, I'll be perfectly honest: I'm not really into sports at all.  I don't have any particular sport that I watch, or any team that I support.  But I can also say honestly that I've always enjoyed going to games whenever they've come up.  There's nothing like a happy sports crowd, and this one was an amazing.  Rugby league fans are incredible.  Sure, there are rivalries amongst the fans, but they're all so amazingly good-natured.  It felt like everyone was so happy to be there, no matter who everyone else was supporting, and it gave the whole event a really happy, festive feel.

Since my husband was at the game representing Danish rugby league, we were given fun little VIP passes to the post-game schmooze-fest in the Great Hall at Wembley.  I've never had a VIP pass for anything.  I've never even had a backstage pass for a concert.  So, this was an interesting event.  The snacks were good, and the people were nice.  Most of them seemed dressed more for a cocktail party than for a rugby match, but there were enough casually dressed folks there for me to feel comfortable in my jeans and sweater.

Towards the end of the event, after my husband had rubbed elbows with everyone he'd planned to rub elbows with, we sat at a table to rest our feet.  We were soon joined by two men in suits, both with carnations in their lapels.  I would never have thought to start a conversation with them, but my husband loves to chat with everyone.

So, he turned to them and said "Those are smart carnations.  You must be very important."

As it turns out, they were.

One was in charge of the Warrington Wolves, the team that had won the Challenge Cup that day.  The other... happened to be the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.

When he found out I was American, he started asking me what I thought about the upcoming American election.

I had a conversation about politics with the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.

What?

My husband leads a ridiculous and surreal life, and my life has become ridiculous and surreal by association.