around the world with Jesus

So I got up way too early today to catch a flight out of Springfield (the 5:50 a.m.) to Chicago and then (through various connections) to Chisnau, Moldova. The team will rendeavous with me here in O’Hare as they get the second flight out. We’ll fly the rest of the way together. Tired.

While walking aimlessly in Terminal C with very little sleep I encountered “The Architect.” Karl Rove was a Bush advisor and…well if you care about politics, you know Karl Rove.

Should I talk to him I wondered? I twittered the fact that he was near. My friend Will Kousma texted back and encouraged me to get a photo with him in my Burger King shirt. The Burger King shirt is a long story…I’ll tell that another time. But in honor of my friend Will (and Travis and others), here’s the photo (I carry the shirt with me in carry-on on all international trips):

We actually had a fun conversation…about 5 minutes or so. I pay attention to politics and loved engaging with the man who by all accounts is amongst the greatest political strategists in U.S. history.

At the end, we took the BK photo and he said he was going to go write a column for the Wall Street Journal. I told him to tell me hello in his column. He said he would…I suggested he use the word “Obama” to actually mean, “Hello Matt Wilkie.” He thought that was a great idea.

Watch for it in the upcoming column.

Ever make a fun memory like that?