When our oldest was five in 1990, George Herbert Walker Bush was in the White House. For some reason, he wanted to invite him to his upcoming birthday party. We made up his birthday invitations and found out where the Republican Party headquarters was in our town, went there, and handed a party invitation to one of the leading Republican Party’s promoters. In front of my child, the gentleman said he would try to make sure the President received it.

A few weeks later yet before the party, our oldest received a package from Washington, D.C. and in it was a beautiful glossy picture book of the interior rooms of the White House. He was a little sad that he didn’t hear from the President directly and that he had no official word as to whether the President was coming to his pirate party.

President George Herbert Walker Bush did not show up. Arrggghhh!

I knew that picture book was all he would receive for his birthday but appreciated the man at the Republican headquarters taking that little invitation to the next level. A week later, I called a family friend and asked him to pretend he was the President and to speak to the birthday boy to tell him “in person” that he was unable to attend.

Our friend did call and asked to speak to our five-year-old. When he answered the phone he heard, “This is President Bush. I am sorry I was unable to come to your party. There was so much going on in the country and the world. I was very busy…uh, being…presidential.”

’nuff said.