A Day or Two in the Life of Liz: Trespassing & Celebrity Encounters

It’s true. If something weird, bizarre, or extremely coincidental is going to happen, it’s going to happen to me. Case in point: my Sunday afternoon walk with my roommate Emma (who I’m pretty sure a couple of people thought was my life partner/gf/wife. Nope, I’m still single and looking for a man in my life. Although, she is indeed a lovely lady ;)

We walked around the lake by our house, and on the way back stopped to take a gander at some townhouses under construction. Emma wandered in through the open garage, and she beckoned me to come hither as she “ooo”-ed and “ahhh”-ed at the layout. I finally relented. Truthfully, I didn’t fancy wandering upstairs because there was no railing to support my lack of balance, but I braved it anyway. The layout was indeed gorgeous, with an open floor plan and huge windows gracing the front area. Emma checked out the next two floors but the stairs were too menacing for me to continue. Kind of like the time I hiked Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park, until the area with the chains began. No no no no no. I don’t do that kind of stuff.

After a few minutes, I thought I heard a noise outside, but it was a fairly windy day, so I just ignored it and continued to wait for Emma to finish her exploration. As we were about to leave, I paused to glance out the front window at the lovely view, and Emma suddenly said, “Um, Liz, there’s a car out front.” I peered down the stairs to the garage and yes indeed, a truck had pulled up, right in front of the garage opening. “What?! Let’s sneak out the front!” I exclaimed, but quickly realized this was not an option, as there were not yet stairs beyond the front door—just a huge drop off.  I tend to temporarily freak out in situations like this, similar to the time my good friend Kati and I bolted from the BYU Creamery our freshman year (that’s another story). To this day, I’m sure some people thought we were shoplifters.

Acting nonchalant and like it was completely normal for us to be on the property, we crept down the stairs and prepared to face the soon-to-be tenants. Luckily, they happened to be one of the nicest couples I’ve ever met. They introduced themselves and even took us on a 30-minutes tour of the property, telling us about their decorating plans. We were both pleasantly surprised and delighted that our future neighbors were charming and friendly, and that they didn’t mind us perusing the property. You see, situations like this became commonplace for me years ago. 

One of my favorite “incidents” was when I attended General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the Conference Center in Salt Lake. My friends and I exited the building after the end of the session and began to make our way toward the car. En route, I noticed a man who looked quite familiar to me. I was almost certain it was someone I knew—perhaps a professor from college or former church leader I knew in the past. Being the uber-friendly girl I am, I asked my friends to wait and I walked right up to the gentleman and said, “Excuse me, sir, you look so familiar to me. Do I know you from somewhere?” He graciously extended his hand and said, “Senator Orrin Hatch, nice to meet you.” I shook his hand, smiled, muttered, “Nice to meet you too!” and escaped. Things like this used to be embarrassing to me, but now I just embrace them.