Six years ago I was freelancing at Saatchi. That's not the regret. I'd started there for what was originally a two or three week gig, and wound up being there about three or four months. That used to happen a lot because I could always be relied on to get the job done, and my freelance strategy was to just keep showing up until they told me not to. Like all freelancers, I liked when gigs went on longer than I was booked for, because if there's one thing I love it's a day rate that keeps on giving.
I happened to be freelancing at Saatchi at two different times during two memorable events. One was the day they found out Toyota was moving their headquarters to Plano, Texas. They found out about it the same way I did—they heard it on the news that morning. The agency was buzzing about it when I got there, and management held a hastily thrown together staff meeting to reassure everyone the move wouldn't happen overnight, everyone was safe and to not worry about it.
What the meeting actually did was reassure everyone management didn't have the slightest clue what was happening.
The other event was the landing of the Endeavour Space Shuttle at LAX before its drive to the California Space Center. This was a big deal for Saatchi and Toyota, because they'd sold a commercial—and ponied up some of that Toyota money they printed in the basement—where a Toyota Tundra was going to tow the shuttle a very short distance part of the way between LAX and downtown on its journey to its permanent exhibition space. This was to show that if you bought a Tundra, had a specially made hitch, connector, trailer and several NASA engineers and production assistants, you could also tow a space shuttle should the opportunity present itself. As it does.
The door to the roof of Saatchi's building was unlocked, so when the shuttle was coming into the airport on its final approach, everyone went up there to watch the landing.
Since Saatchi is in Torrance, not far from LAX, it was a great view of the NASA 747 carrying the shuttle piggyback, and the two fighter jets escorting it. Plus if you looked down, you could also see the entire shopping mall parking lot Saatchi sits in the corner of.
After seeing it land, I decided I desperately wanted to be one of the thousands lining the streets over the next few days as the orbiter was towed downtown.
I've had a few once-in-a-lifetime experiences in my time. I met and became friends with Groucho Marx. I snagged sixth row center tickets to see a certain gravel-voiced singer from Jersey in his broadway show. I had floor seats at SNL, hung out backstage and went to the after party as a guest of my friend Kevin who was one of the Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time players. I hung out with my friend Holland Taylor backstage at Lincoln Center after a Tony-nominated performance of her one woman show ANN. I played Barrel Of Monkeys with Helen Hunt at the VFW in Ponca City, Oklahoma when she was shooting Twister.
It's important in life (here comes the life advice, stop rolling your eyes) to recognize real once in a lifetime experiences when they happen. And I figured seeing the shuttle rolling down neighborhood streets was going to be one of them.
I watched the coverage on TV with my daughter, and kept telling her we should go see it in person because nothing like this was ever going to happen again. For reasons I don't remember now, I either wasn't able or decided not to go. In case you couldn't tell, that's the regret.
Today however, I was able to somewhat remedy that missed chance by going to the Science Center with the wife to see Endeavour for the first time since it arrived. I know it's been six years, but you know, life in progress. My daughter wound up seeing it years ago with her class on a field trip, and now it was my turn. Not to see it with her class, but you know what I mean.
Anyway, it was magnificent. I'm not gonna lie. I got choked up. It genuinely felt like I finally stopped denying myself something I really wanted, as well as a dream come true.
Just like my high school girlfriend.
The wife and I watched the Journey Into Space 3D IMAX film before walking into the Endeavour exhibit. And the idea that this, the most complicated machine ever built, that we've seen take off and land so many times over the years, has come here after having been in space orbiting around this little blue ball of a planet was almost too much to take in.
In a world that's felt like it's been crumbling since January of last year, and with ignorant, fearful men trying to convince the nation that science is something as evil as they are, looking up at Endeavour gave me a feeling I haven't had in a while: hope. It restored my faith that mankind's intelligence, ingenuity, curiosity and never ending need to keep exploring ever further might still prevail, and guide us all towards our better selves.
Just like the hope I had that Saatchi's roof door wasn't locked when it closed behind us.
