The Time I Met Ryan Gosling

I think I may have written about this once on this very blog….but seeing how Ryan is everywhere, in every movie and even in all these clever little pictures above….I might as well take this opportunity to shout it from the rooftops…

And in fact, he introduced himself to me.  And we shook hands.  So there.

But don’t get too excited.  It’s not like we made out or anything…we just met.  I was then (and am now) a happily married woman after all.

And now I’ll stop wasting time with pointless filler sentences and agitating, annoying alliteration and just tell the story already.  The story of how I met Ryan.  Gosling.  Just so we’re clear.  Ahem…

So one day, when Miss Sparkle Pants was a baby and we lived in New York City we decided to take a family outing to the Museum of Natural History.  I distinctly remember pushing an empty stroller while B was napping a wee Princess Sparkle in the bjorn.  We were always overly prepared back then.  Anyway, we were in the gift shop when suddenly we saw one of our friends from dental school.  His name is Steve and he was a year ahead of B.  And to be perfectly honest, he was more of a close acquaintance or a distant friend, you decide.  So I saw Steve and promptly took the stroller and started ramming it into the back of his legs saying, excuse me, excuse me…while he stood there politely trying to get out of my way until he finally looked up to see who this crazy person was.  When he saw that it was me, we all laughed and commenced chatting.  He was standing by himself at the moment, but said he was with his sister and some friends as he gestured over there… And then I saw him.  Ryan Gosling.  He was just browsing by himself in the museum gift shop.  And while we kept talking to Steve, internally I was thinking Did Steve just gesture to him?  To Ryan Gosling?  Are they friends?  Is dental-school-Steve friends with Ryan Gosling, aka Noah from The Notebook?  That was my internal monologue, but outside I was cool as a cucumber.  To be honest I wasn’t one of those crazed Notebook fan girls.  Sure I thought he was a good looking guy, but that was about it.  It was more just a is Steve really pals with this guy? moment.  Although I must admit, if I met Ryan Gosling now…Ryan Gosling of Lars and the Real girl,  Crazy, Stupid, Love and every-other-movie-in-Hollywood fame I may have been a bit more star-struck.

So it is at this point that Ryan, seeing us chatting with his buddy Steve, walks up to us, holds out his hand and says, Hi, I’m Ryan.  I introduced myself and then we shook hands.  And he did the same with B.  Then Steve’s sister came up and it seems like one other girl who I can’t remember and we all started talking.  (Now, it’s also important to note that I knew my husband had NO idea who this was.  It is one of those endearing/annoying qualities about my husband that pop culture is completely lost on him.  When watching a movie he is constantly asking me who this or that actor is and I’m like that’s Meryl Streep honey.  Anyway….)   I remember that Sparkle Pants was still sleeping and Ryan asked us her name and when we told him he said he liked that name.  I remember they asked us if we were going to a certain exhibit and we joked that we were too poor for them fancy exhibits.  We chatted for a good 5 minutes.  And then we said our goodbye’s and left.

After we walked away I said to B, You don’t know who that is do you?  
Who?  That guy?
Yeah that’s Ryan Gosling, he’s in that movie The Notebook.
And I think his reaction was something like, Huh.  

The next time we saw Steve I asked him about his celebrity friend.  Turns out Steve served his mission with Ryan’s sister. Yes, Ryan Gosling was raised Mormon.  I know, it’s like get in line of celebrities who are or who were raised Mormon buddy!

So there it is.  The story of the time I met Ryan Gosling.
And the time we shook hands.  (You caught that part right?)  

No biggie.