My Date with The Governator

It was a brisk, January 9, 2008 in Sacramento. I, Jenna Ann, eager to take advantage of a service learning opportunity, accepted an invitation from Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to attend the premier of “American Idealist: The Story of Sergent Shriver.” I was slightly apprehensive, knowing that he was a married man and the film was about his wife Maria Shriver’s father. But after an hour on the phone with him begging me to come, I relented. After all, Sergent Shriver was the father of the Peace Corps and has dedicated his life to service to humankind. His inspiring life is a story worth hearing, so I figured, “What the hey?”

We agreed to meet at the Crest Theater that evening. I walked in and saw him surrounded by the media, as always. Our eyes met across the lobby and it was magic. He broke through the crowd to greet me with a bear hug and a kiss on the cheek. The STLs and Silver 6 stared at us with awe and envy.

After being seated in the front row of the theater, Arnold summoned one of his body guards and whispered something in his ear. A few minutes later, the guard returned with a tub of popcorn and peanut M&Ms, my favorite. During the movie, Arnold’s hand would stray over to my knee or he would hold my hand when we weren’t sharing the popcorn. When our hands met in the popcorn tub, he would giggle in his manly, Austrian way.

The evening was magical. Arnold walked me to the STL Minivan in the cool night air. He told me he never wanted the night to end and I said, “Arnold, the members of the Silver Unit need me! I must get their Fed Exs out to them tomorrow!” He offered to have his entire staff work on it the following day, but I declined. I told him I didn’t know if they would be up to the Silver standard. He hung his head and said that I was probably right. The rest of the STLs were approaching the van, so we had to go our separate ways. As he leaned down to kiss my cheek, he made my night complete and whispered the line that I had always wanted to hear him say:

“It’s not a tumor.”

Epilogue

OK, the above events may not have happened exactly the way I just described.

NCCC was invited to the showing, but it wasn’t by Arnold personally. Anyone on campus who could go was invited. I actually did sit in the front row of the theater, two seats and an aisle away from Arnold and one seat and an aisle away from Maria Shriver, who introduced the film and the panel discussion that followed. Arnold and Maria held hands through the movie and did share a bucket of popcorn. After the panel discussion, Silver 6, Stuart Brewster and I hung around and actually got to shake hands with Arnold and get a picture with him before we left. He looks just like he does in the movies, except he was shorter that I expected.

The evening was pretty freakin’ rad. It was a wonderful coincidence that January 9 just so happened to be my one-year anniversary with NCCC (I started CTI on this day in 2007) and that I would accomplish my ultimate goal of meeting the Governator while living in Sacramento on that same day. Just another perk of living the AmeriLife!

P.S. As we were leaving, I took the popcorn tub that Arnold and Maria were eating out of. Awesome or creepy? You decide. I vote for awesome.