Member-only story

SERENDIPITY

Joe Biden Called My Husband On My iPhone

And other close encounters of the thrilling kind

Emmi S. Herman
The Haven
Published in
5 min readApr 14, 2024

--

Photo credit: ©Barbara Bernstein, 2019

It’s quite common to spot famous people in public where I live. In New York you can sip a Starbucks, take the subway, eat in a restaurant or grocery shop alongside the rich and famous.

Many ordinary citizens like me share a level of curiosity about celebrities. I get starstruck and my heart pounds with excitement when I see famous people by chance. I try to obey the unwritten behavior code to respect their privacy and not invade their space.

But what happens when a famous person initiates and borrows your pen, uses your iPhone, inquires about directions or even shows up at your apartment? For one thing, it makes great cocktail chatter and seeds for stories yet to be written.

I’m not a famous-person magnet where people are organically drawn to me day and night. My chance moments have happened once or twice a decade. They add up to encounters that stick forever.

Included are a childhood TV idol, a Broadway theater legend, a popular children’s book author and the President of the United States. Along the way I may have broken the behavior code but all ended well. Mostly.

--

--

The Haven
The Haven

Published in The Haven

A Place to Be Funny Without Being a Jerk

Emmi S. Herman
Emmi S. Herman

Written by Emmi S. Herman

Copywriter by day. Stories by life. At work on a memoir about my sister. Otherwise in a car somewhere between NY and NJ. eherman0110@gmail.com

Responses (11)