Celebrity boyfriend: tall man with Tide pen

I have not written too much about my celebrity boyfriends here. Of course, I mainly want to maintain my squeaky clean image so that when the letter from Queen Elizabeth arrives with an offer of an arranged marriage to one of her grandsons I am ready. There is that. But there is also that I don't have strong feelings about my celebrity boyfriends. I often forget who they are, or if I am asked about them I have to think for a minute (is it Kevin Spacey? Is he my favorite? I know there was another one...). And once I do remember, my mind usually wanders quickly. I usually hear that the ones I like are short, anyway. Which is FINE, but I'm tall so the fantasy record usually comes to a screeching halt. Jeff Goldblum is tall, so he's on the list when I remember him. But I digress. (See? I can't even focus long enough to explain how I can't focus.)

There is also that my eye tends toward the folks in the background. The bass player (I married one of those). The accompanist. The roadie. You know. The wind beneath the wings types. Flyyyyyyyyyy, flyyyyyy, so hiiiiiiigh against the skyyyy, so high I almost reach the sky, thank you, thank God for you blah blah.

I am happy to see that Ashley Parker of the New York Times may be with me on this. Because look who she (he?) did a story on, prompting me to break my silence and claim a new celebrity boyfriend: Barack Obama's "body man," Reggie Love. Sorry, Your Majesty, but look!


Reggie does everything for Senator Obama. He "Takes. Care. Of. Stuff." He plays basketball with him, brings him cheeseburgers, anticipates needs. According to my new friend Ashley Parker (or should I say new rival for Reggie's affections):

"Young, eager campaign aides are stock characters in movies and on television, but few have quite the élan of Mr. Love, who, at 6-foot-5, is about three inches taller than the tall candidate, fitter than the fit candidate (he can bench press more than 350 pounds) and cooler than the cool candidate.

“There’s no doubt that Reggie is cooler than I am,” Mr. Obama said, laughing, in a phone interview. “I am living vicariously through Reggie.”

(élan, by the way, is "vigorous spirit or enthusiasm." I just looked it up.)

Ashley Parker continues:

When Mr. Obama dropped food on his tie while eating in the car between stops, Mr. Love was ready with a Tide pen. He always carries one, along with ballpoint pens, and has turned himself into a walking dispensary of Sharpies, stationery, protein bars, throat lozenges, water, tea, Advil, Tylenol, Purell and emergency Nicorette, not to mention his ever-present iPhone, BlackBerry and Canon Rebel XT digital camera. (Mr. Love keeps a photo journal of the campaign, and has more than 10,000 pictures so far.)

(Yes, Nicorette. My hopes for America's salvation lie with a smoker, yall. Don't worry--Michelle is on it.)


I didn't even notice him as a Duke athlete. Not that I am an avid fan of Duke athletics, but as a UNC alum I have some sort of passing interest. But now that he is the wind beneath the wings of you know who, he shines to folks like Ashley and me (and Bette Midler, I dare say, especially if Reggie was her wing man--it must have been cold there in my shadow, indeed.)

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