Shirlee Smith | You Never Know Who You Are Gonna Bump Into

You never know just who you’re gonna bump into. Well, don’t take me literally on this because, nowadays, “bump into” could mean that road rage occurrence on any one of our roadways.

My use of the phrase takes us back to the old days when mothers lectured their daughters about clean underwear because we might be in an accident and laid out on the sidewalk.

I suspect I used that nonsense lecture when raising my daughters. Now, whether or not they adhered to the warning is another story.

But clean underwear or not, not knowing who you might bump into, meaning when you don’t expect that to happen, it’s a good rule of thumb (ugh, another one of those old-time sayings) to look your best.

I didn’t ask my Colorado Springs daughter about her undergarments since she wasn’t in an accident and laid out on the sidewalk. Instead, I played it simple and asked how she came to take the selfie with gymnast Simone Biles, the five-time Olympic medalist.

“Well, look who that is sitting on the patio with friends at the ice cream shop,” Peggy said to her husband and teenage son as they strolled the main drag in downtown Springs.

“I was starstruck, I must admit,” Peggy told me, and went on to explain that neither hubby or son were interested in the brief drama that was about to unfold.

“Nope, family members wouldn’t even snap the picture; hence the Selfie,” my daughter said, but was quick to claim, “It didn’t matter because my arm was long enough to support the opportunity.”

Simone Biles!

Smiling, courteous and gracious were the words my daughter used to describe the very brief encounter.

Maybe she was in the “Springs” because that’s where the Olympic Training Center is. Maybe, maybe, maybe?

But doing a quiz-down wasn’t part of gettin’ a Selfie. “Even as I snapped the picture, after asking politely if she would do that, I still gave her personal space and only leaned toward her a little.”

So was Ms Peggy actually starstruck? Well, she explained her excitement when spotting the young gymnast by saying, “You see these people all over the big-screen TV right in your home, so you come to feel like you know them.”

Biles, who just celebrated her twentieth birthday this month, found herself in the hearts of many people during the 2016 Olympics when she, the American artistic gymnast, became the Olympic individual all-around vault and floor gold medalist.

Whether Biles’ fantastic appearance on Dancing with the Stars this month was part of her birthday celebration is a question Colorado Springs Daughter thought I was going a little far in asking her to speculate.

“I’m not at all comfortable with these kind of things even though I approached her for the Selfie, but please remember I didn’t ask anything then so I’m not speculating on anything about her now.”

Okay, we moms can get a little pushy, And even pushier when we’re writing an article.

As parents, do we wonder how many of our on-going lectures eventually take hold and bear fruit? Some of the sayings handed down through family lore ought to be discarded. But which ones?

I still support clean underwear but just pray no one will ever know because my kid is not in an accident and laid out on the sidewalk.

And would Simone Biles have left her friends behind on the patio of the ice cream eatery to wander to the street to check on, my kid, the victim?