Ann Curry and The Dalai Lama

I could tell you about beginning the day with wonderful friends in a fancy schmancy waterfront restaurant, sipping pomegranate mojitos and enjoying a lavish lunch . . .

I could tell you about attending the kick-off for the Seeds of Compassion events to be held in Seattle over the next few days . . .

I could tell you about being in the same room (okay, arena) with his holiness, The Dalai Lama and breathing the same air he was breathing while listening to his coy remarks and views on the world, music and people. . .

I could tell you how I almost cried when he spoke about the fact that we are all part of the human race, part of one big, huge, 6 billion strong extended family, so that is how we can find compassion when we face our enemies - because they are human too, just like we are. . .

I could tell you that Dave Matthews was visibly nervous for the first portion of his conversation with The Dalai Lama, and he rocked back in forth in his chair and fidgeted - which only makes me love him more. . .

I could tell you that Death Cab for Cutie made a surprise appearance and rocked the house. . .

I could tell you how extremely long the beer line was, but the bathroom line was not. . .

I could tell you about Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds on stage, two men and two guitars making the most beautiful music in the world. . .

But instead I'll tell you how Ann Curry brushed by me.

Yes, that Ann Curry. The one on The Today Show. The one who was also part of the conversation with his holiness, unbeknownst to me.

As we were making our way down to our seats, we could hear a loud woman behind us. Hearing loud women at concerts and such places isn't really that odd, so we thought nothing of it.

"What? We're going down here?" The woman said from behind us.

Her companion told her to follow him.

"This is where we're going to do it? I thought it would be a more intimate setting, a small room," she said, rather loudly. In fact, so loudly that I was thinking, "Okay, loud drunk woman coming through."

I felt them wiggle by me and I said to my husband, "That lady sounded just like Ann Curry."

"I thought the exact same thing," he said.

We looked at each other. We looked at the back of her head. We watched the woman who sounded just like Ann Curry walk all the way down to the floor, pass the common folk area and into the front section where only the mucky mucks are allowed. We saw someone lean over the railing and shake her hand, and then another and another.

"I think that actually was Ann Curry," I told my husband, just as I saw her duck in front of the security people and take a spot next to the stage.

We texted our friends, who had seats a few sections over from us:

Ann Curry walked right by us - it said.

Who is Ann Curry? - theirs said back (they don't watch a lot of television, lucky them).

And then, The Dalai Lama came on stage, followed by his assistant, Dave Matthews and, you guessed it, Ann Curry!

She was amazingly poised and professional on stage, just as she is every morning on The Today Show. She asked thoughtful questions and responded appropriately, although she did say the word "nipple" out loud and then chuckle that "I didn't think I'd be saying that word here."

She said it in response to The Dalai Lama trying to explain our biological understanding of compassion in relation to the instant compassion a mother feels for her babies when they are born - how a mother automatically feels something for this being . . . and then he went on to say that if more women were in power, our world would be better off. I couldn't tell if he was hinting towards a Hillary endorsement, but it sure seemed that way.

All the women clapped, even Ann Curry.