When I joined Twitter almost a year ago, I had absolutely
zero expectations about what it would add to my life. I assumed that it would be a fun way to follow my favorite
celebrities and maybe interact with a few of them, which is what I spent the
first few months doing. Little did
I realize how Twitter would change my life in so many ways! This is a story about just one of them.
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| Piers Morgan (Credit: CNN) |
One evening in the middle of August 2011, I was on Twitter
when I saw a “retweet” from CNN host Piers Morgan. Morgan, an imposing Brit known in the States for winning the
first season of “Celebrity Apprentice” and being a judge on “America’s Got
Talent”, had taken over Larry King’s timeslot on CNN with his own hybrid of
celebrity/daily news/political talk show aptly named “Piers Morgan
Tonight”. I liked the show from
the start, and had been following him on Twitter since it started. He had been making headlines this
evening because Delaware Republican Christine O’Donnell had walked off the set
of his show, mid interview, when asked to discuss her views on gay
marriage. The “retweet” in
question was from Twitter user @QuarterLifeSam saying “Forgot to tell Christine
O’Donnell I walked in the NYC Gay Pride Parade as I escorted her out of the
building”. Being the proud mother
of a lesbian and a staunch supporter of equal rights, I found her comment to be
completely hilarious! I
immediately stared following her on Twitter, and sent her a “that’s hilarious
and awesome” tweet. A “twitter
friendship” was born! I soon
learned that Samantha was a Chicago girl that had been transplanted to New
York, and she learned that while I grew up and now live in the Chicago area, my
heart will always love New York because of the time I lived there. Many evenings we tweeted back and forth
about families, tattoos, the weather, who was having a crappy day, what amazing
guest Piers was having on the show, etc.
I thought that she was really cool, and I looked forward to seeing what
exciting adventures she was having in the Big Apple. Then in early January, Samantha private messaged me on
Twitter and asked me to send her my email address, which I did. What came next completely blew me
away! Because I was such a huge supporter of her and the show, she
wanted to extend an invitation to me (and a guest) to come to New York for a
live audience show with Piers and Suze Orman! Oh my gosh, I almost fell off my chair with excitement! The email went on to give details about
the show date and time, that it hadn’t been announced to the public yet, and if
we were able to come to let her know.
After speaking with my sweetie about it, we were booked on flights and
had a hotel reserved in under two hours.
This was NOT an opportunity that I was going to miss!
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| JustJen and her sweetie, George |
We flew in to in to NYC the night before the show and did
some sight-seeing as my sweetie had never been there before. Early afternoon on show day, Samantha
took an hour out of her afternoon to give us a private tour of the CNN New York
Headquarters. Fascinating! We saw the newsrooms for CNN Money,
locations of the two sets that broadcast inside another newsroom, and the
actual set where CNN projected that Barack Obama won the 2008 election. Then we went in to the joint space that
the staff of Piers Morgan Tonight / AC360 shares and all I can say is WOW! On the left side of the room, you have
the PMT staff, with Mr Morgan’s office being in the far corner (he wasn’t there
and I did not go in, although I was allowed to look through the doorway). On the right side of the room, you have
the AC360 staff, with Mr. Cooper’s office in the opposite corner (complete with
Emmys on the window ledge). The views
of Columbus Circle and the West side of Central Park are breathtaking! Sam was also gracious enough to show us
both the set for AC360 and Piers Morgan Tonight where we were allowed to sit at
the desks and take pictures. I was
humbled at the thought of the people that had sat in the guest chair before me
- Rosie O’Donnell and Rob Lowe especially! And to be able to sit in Piers chair and look at what he
sees during a show was incredible.
Definitely a once in a
lifetime experience!
 |
| JustJen and @QuarterLifeSam |
Even now as I
am home in my kitchen writing this, I want to pinch myself to see if it really
happened. Did someone that I
hadn’t officially “met” until four days ago really bless me with this amazing
opportunity just because I liked what she had to say on Twitter? Without any agenda other than doing
something special for some one else?
The answer that I get every time I think about it since the day I received
the email invitation is YES! People like Samantha still exist! Those who are generous with their time and their gifts, and who
pay it forward to some one who will truly appreciate and cherish it. I am forever grateful to
@QuarterLifeSam for the opportunity of a lifetime – the show experience with
Piers and Suze was incredible (see my recap to follow). But I appreciate my new friend, Samantha,
for the time she took from her hectic day to make us feel special, the
genuineness and warmth of her hugs hello and goodbye, the sparkle in her eyes
when she saw how stunned and surprised we were at every turn of our tour, the
way she introduced us to her friends and colleagues, and the casual easiness
the three of us shared as we wandered around the CNN offices. She is a class act and I am blessed to
have her in my life. The words
“thank you” will never be enough to convey how much I am grateful for the gifts
of herself she shared with me.
Sam, Leona’s and Whipsicles are on me the next time you are home!
You can follow these
people on Twitter: Samantha
@QuarterLifeSam, Piers Morgan @PiersMorgan, Piers Morgan Tonight @PiersTonight
You can also read
Samantha’s first person account of her experience with Christine O’Donnell
here: http://piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/18/what-happened-after-the-christine-odonnell-walk-off-a-first-person-account/
Photo Credit, Piers Morgan: CNN
Photo Credit, all others: JustJen
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