"I don't know much...but I know Aaron Neville..."

So yesterday I was leaving a pretty pleasant day at "the secret" to get some sweet tea at the food court [TANGENT: I ended up giving up food court food and coffee for Lent, but sweet tea from Chik-Fil-A is still fair game, because frankly I am not so strong that I can resist the temptation of a delicious, moderately priced tea in a handy styrofoam cup...with FREE REFILLS no less. I figured God would understand!] and as I was fiddling with my cell phone, I see two housewives getting off the elevator and having a coniption over someone that was stepping on, saying, "I can't belive you're here and I am meeting you! I love your work. Take care. God Bless!"

Of course, the nosey bitch I am, I hastily pressed the button so the doors would fly back open, and I could spend 1 unescapable minute of one on one with some mystery celebrity! Was it Tom Hanks or Oprah or some other lovable star? Nope, It was Aaron Neville! [TANGENT:While retelling this story to people later at work, no one but the black girls quite knew who I was talking about. Even after singing "I don't know much, but I know I love you....let me be all I need to know," I still got a lot of blank stares. I then followed with the Horation Sanz impression from SNL...still, NOTHING! Who are these people!!] He was wearing the usual "don't look at me, but look at me" attire, sunglasses and a black hat! I know he is not a huge star by today's standards, but I still felt like we needed to share a moment. Here is our conversation:

Me: How are you doing today?
Aaron: good...and you?
Me: Good its not too busy....What are you doing in town? are you doing some shopping today?
Aaron: Yeah....I just gotta pick up something [TANGENT: after walking behind him on the way to the food court, I realized, he was hitting up the diamond store. Maybe to buy a large medallion...who's to say? ]
Me: Have you been in New Orleans this week for the Mardi Gras [after watching the super bowl, I knew that he did a lot of post-katrina work because he was from there...way to be informed!!]
Aaron: No...I have really bad asthma and the air quality is bad [Jackpot: he has confided to me his health problems]

So in all, I think I got way more than the sweet tea I desired, I shared a tender moment in an elevator by a celebrity with a large facial mole!