Do You Want To Be Famous?

Five days a week, I walk down the streets of downtown Binghamton, New York on my way to work, or during my lunchtime, and no one cares.

No news people follow me.  Nobody organizes demonstrations concerning fracking, budget cuts, or medical coverage knowing I will pass by.  No, it's just me, and my iPhone, and my co worker who sometimes goes on photo jaunts with me.  Unlike President Obama when he visits Binghamton on Friday, I can do ordinary things like these:

Rose in Bloom 8-16-13 Confluence Park

I can visit Confluence Park, where the Chenango River meets the Susquehanna, and I can stop and smell the roses - literally.

Chenango River at downtown Binghamton, 8-16-13

I can walk along the Chenango, and admire the wildflowers.

I can look at a viburnum with its ripening blue berries.  (my plant expert and I are still working on exactly which species).

In the center of Confluence Park, Binghamton, NY

And, I can wonder about the pine and turtle symbolism in this Confluence Park marker.  Is it related to the Oneida Nation tribal logo?

Obama could wish he could see this beauty in person.  He can't.  Unless he reads my blog, which is never going to happen.

But I can see that beauty, because I'm not famous.  And I'm glad I'm not.  I would miss the ability to go into a store, to eat in a restaurant, to take an exercise walk, to walk down a path and admire wildflowers.  All those everyday things would have to be fit into a tight schedule by my handlers, as security people sweep the streets, and crowds would follow me everywhere.

My life would no longer be my own.

Have you ever been famous, or been close (friend or relative) to someone famous?  Was the experience what you expected?