Incident on the White House East Lawn

            The year was 1977, and I was 9 years. My father was invited to the “Easter Egg Hunt” that was being held on the East Lawn at the White House, and took me along. I remember the other children who I saw dressed in their best clothes wearing a sport jacket with an emblem of their Ivy League private school. They seamed more concerned with whose children they might meet of heads of state, congressmen, or foreign dignitaries. The clown, who was hired for the event, tried as he may to fulfill his duties of being the entertainment for the children. I being a boy of the natural order was there for the fun and candy. I saw a small spaniel sitting on the lawn, and I ran over to pet him. Naturally little boys love dogs. As I sat there a little girl with blond hair wearing a pink frock, white stockings, and the black buckle over shoes that were popular at the time sat down on the other side of the pup. We were suddenly surrounded by News people. They asked me “Do you know who that is?”

I replied while petting the dog feverishly “Yeah. It’s a dog!”

They had a good laugh at that. Again someone pointed at the girl who sat next to the pup and asked “Do you know who that is?”

            I scrunched up my face while looking around the dog for I thought these people were just plain silly and said “Awe that just a girl” while sneering. Naturally little boys don’t like GIRLS.

            They really laughed at that. Nobody I guess had ever called Amy Carter the Presidents daughter “Just a girl”

One of the News people straightened me out on the fact that I was sitting next to the Presidents daughter. All in all she was still just a girl to me. I think maybe that is what really drew her to me, for nobody ever treated her as just a girl before. We spent the day playing together. She took me up into the West Wing where she and her family stayed and showed me around. I really wasn’t too impressed though; I thought the kitchen in the basement was cool and so was the man in the elevator who waited there just to give rides up and down for whoever wanted it.

I often look back on such experiences with the wonder of an adult who sees himself through the eyes of a child.

Happy Easter Megan

“THOR”