History Comes to Momma's World

My morning started out well. My rollers were just hot enough to do the job right but not burn my finger tips..too much. Last night I did a bit of shopping and purchase a new dress...RED. This was in spirit of "The Red Dress" campaign. Why not show my support while on camera? Who knows when I will get this chance again. I am hoping they do a 3/4 shot of me at all times. Otherwise I will be exposed for not finding the right shade of red shoes to go with my new dress. Did I mention we moved to a large, as in space/land, city which is actually a small sort of country place? Oh well, black heels go with everything right? Children were ready to go without my assistance (Yeah!).

I drop Snow White off at Daycare and fly over to the office via the air of someone about to be "famous." Yeah, right. I am feeling both excited and nervous. There was no prep meeting telling us what to talk about or the details of the piece.

I arrive at work to a prelude of Woohoos, whistles, double takes and a few "Honey, you better get out of her office before she comes in." Har, har, har. I never wear a dress to work, well...almost never. It just isn't practical since I usually walk the manufacturing floor at least once a day. It is part of my job to actually look over the progress.

11:00 AM I hear the camera crew is here! Hair check, lipstick check, smooth out my dress and point all the photos of my children towards the chairs in front of my desk. My children will love seeing their photos on TV. I even have a new drawing Snow White made for me. It is a dozen or so smiley faces so I remember to smile.

Geeze. It is 1:00 and I haven't heard anything yet. I skipped lunch just incase.

1:30 PM Ok, I am hungry. Going home for a bite to eat with ManSon.

2:30 PM Back at my desk and no, no one has come looking for me. Oh well, I guess they decided not to interview me. I won't be part of history. It's ok, I have a few projects that I can get a head start on for tomorrow.

4:00 PM I can hear the manufacturing shop winding down for the next shift. The day is ending for a few guys in my area. We laugh and joke all while sitting at our own desks with a few by the printer. The door to our area opens and I assume it was one of the guys leaving. We boast on with a few more jokes and then I yell out "Not the chosen few for the precious show but we make history every day. Don't you forget it." I don't recall all the things I said after that door opened but I do recall the silence after that last tort. An unfamiliar face peeked around the corner and introduced himself and a few others who trailed in after him. I could tell by my supervisors red face and big smile they had heard quite a bit of our jovial chatter.

I swear my face went white as a ghost but I mechanically greeted them. I have no idea what there names were or what was said in the first few minutes. What snapped me out of my embarrassed daze were the words "Let's go into the shop." WHAT?! HUH?! My inner voice was pleading with them ..."No, oh please. No, let's not go into the shop." Why would I worry about going into the manufacturing shop since it is something I do on a daily basis you ask? I quiet down the cry baby inner voice, strap on my steel toed boots and put on my LARGE safety glasses. They go perfect with my beautiful red dress huh? Not.

I lead then crew out to the floor and stop by the first mechanical piece in fabrication with the flair of a car model at an Auto Show. The more I talk about each step it takes to make a hydraulic power plant I forget about my boots and goggles. I forget I am wearing a dress. I forget they are a camera crew and talk to the person asking the questions as if he were a student and I were the professor.

We toured the floor for an hour and a half then it was done. It wasn't until I was back in my office and my supervisor was sitting in front of me that I realized...the camera crew had come and gone. He praised me on my form, my knowledge of the company, products and how proud he was that it all went so well. I apologized for anything I might have said when they entered our area. He completely understood and we are both sure the camera crew got a big kick out of it. He also explained why it took so long for them to get around to me. They taped a few other engineers and company employees first.

I am anxious to see how it is all put together. After all they started taping around noon and wound up their day with me. I am guessing the segment is only an hour or might even be just half an hour. As I left work I thought "I hope some of my part is aired but then again I didn't get a chance to check my hair, my make up, my teeth (broccoli and chicken lunch) and on top of all that I had to wear steel toed boots and safety glasses. Oh well, if I am lucky enough to be part of the segment please be kind. I thought they were going to do my segment in my office. At least you can see what a great hair day I was having! We do not wear construction helmets here. If anything falls on you a safety helmet will not save you in any way shape or form.

The show will air on the History Channel March 8, 2007.