I was saddened to hear that Nancy Reagan passed away yesterday. She was a classy lady - devoted to her husband, and always so well put together.
I attended Reagan’s first inaugural parade with my parents in 1981. I remember the morning as bitter cold. So cold, that my parents shared a cigarette on a street corner under the guise that it would keep them warm. Dad even let me have a puff or two. I felt very grown up at the time.
Mom and I were no giants, so in order to get a view of the motorcade as it came by, she and I jostled for a seat on the curb, in front of the crowds. Shortly after we got our prized seats, children began piling in all around us, and in some cases on top of us. Mom and I had no intention of giving up our seats, though, even as the crowds of small people seemed to swarm all over us.
As the presidential limo approached, we caught sight of Nancy wearing a magnificent red coat and hat, her head sticking out through the limo sun roof. She really stood out among the dark suited Secret Service agents that flanked the car and we barely even noticed our new president. She must have caught sight of my Mom and me, underneath the pile of kids, some of whom were by this time actually sitting on our shoulders, because as they drove by, she pointed at us and laughed. We were absolutely tickled to have been singled out by her, and in my mind’s eye, she will always be that young, that striking, and wearing that brilliant red outfit.