What Really Happened (2 page)

If I were writing this as a screenplay, here is the part where GOD (played by LENNY KRAVITZ or if Lenny is too busy touring, BONO) would ERUPT into laughter.

I mean, really, what a joke.

I was living in South Orange, New Jersey, with my best friend, Mimi Godfrey Hockman, and her two sons (and my godsons). It was late afternoon and I was getting ready to head into New York City. I remember feeling very happy. Ever since my new outlook on life had happened, my emotional state rarely varied from one of satisfaction. No matter what the circumstances were on the outside, life was just fun.

By early evening I had finished a downtown meeting with a guy from Plum TV about a TV show that never happened, and Mimi had finished getting her hair done, so we met up for dinner. As we approached Park Avenue, Mimi suggested that we stop for a drink at the Loews Regency Hotel.

I liked that idea. I had never been inside the Regency. More importantly, Mimi was in love and wanted to revisit the places that she and her boyfriend had been visiting in the city.

We walked into The Library, the Regency’s street-level bar/restaurant. A waiter escorted us to a table. I looked around the room. Diagonally from me on a couch were two men sitting side by side; two more men in chairs flanked the couch. One of the guys on the couch was attractive, wearing all dark Barneys New York type of attire: leather coat, turtleneck, and jeans. He smiled at me; I smiled back. I guessed that he was in the music industry. Directly behind Mimi sat three men who appeared to be having a business meeting. The one closest to Mimi was the most attractive of the three, looking very Southern and conservative but still casual in blue jeans, a blue blazer, and no tie.

After my initial scan of the room, I drank some wine. Then my cell phone rang; it was my friend, Glory Crampton. I asked her to join us, given we were in her neighborhood. She told me she wasn’t dressed for the Regency; I told her I wasn’t either. (I had on jeans and a black cashmere turtleneck.) She said she would be there soon.

I spotted a guy in a blue blazer sitting directly behind Mimi. I pointed him out to her and said, “He looks like someone who went to University of Virginia or someone that I showed horses with.” He was very familiar to me, as if I had known him a long time ago in the South.

She turned briefly to glance at him and said, “You know who that is? John Edwards.”

I said, “No, John Edwards is a geek. That guy’s got it going on.”

“It is. I recognize the accent.”

I still didn’t believe her.

We spotted an empty table and headed there since Glory would soon be joining us. It also happened to be the precise spot where Mimi and her man sat the previous week.

Seated at our new table, I was now directly facing the alleged John Edwards. He looked directly at me, not smiling. I returned his gaze, also not smiling. He rested his face in his hands and continued to glance at me during the rest of his meeting. This was weird. I knew this man. There was a strong sense of familiarity that I couldn’t shake. I was intrigued because there was something so different and so very interesting about this man. This looking back and forth at each other went on for a while, and then he and the younger gentlemen got up and left.

That surprised me. I would have thought that he would have walked directly over to me and asked, “Who are you? And where do I know you from? Because I know you.”

Mimi said, “That was definitely John Edwards.”

I said, “No way. John Edwards the politician is disconnected and as deep as a puddle. That man has depth and awareness.”

The man they had been sitting with remained at their table. Mimi got up, walked over to him, and asked if he had been sitting with John Edwards. The man said he had.

“It
was
him, I told you,” she said to me from John Edwards’s table.

Mimi sat down with the man and I joined them. We chatted briefly. He introduced himself as a lawyer and campaign donor named Tony; if he told me his last name, it didn’t stick.

“I can’t believe that was John Edwards. He is so hot.” I didn’t say this in the voice of an adoring fan, but more like I was surprised to find that it was true.

Tony said, “You should have come over and told him that. He would have loved to hear that.”

After some pleasant small talk that included Mimi expressing a strong desire to work for John Edwards, Tony the lawyer raving about what a great guy John Edwards is, and John Edwards’s uncanny ability to inspire people to want to help him wherever he goes, there was an exchange of business cards between Mimi and Tony. We went back to our table and Glory arrived. Mimi told her that she had just missed John Edwards and expressed again how much she would like to work for him. Glory seemed a bit disappointed that she had missed out. She sighed, “Oh, I would have loved to meet him.”

I replied, “You will.” I told Glory about the weird connection I felt between the two of us and that I was confident our paths would cross again one day.

And that was it about John Edwards. The conversation turned to Glory’s upcoming wedding, and we were soon discussing details like flowers and venues.

A bit later, I got up to use the ladies’ room and on the way I noticed the younger gentleman who had left with John Edwards was back and now sitting with a young woman. I stopped at their table in order to pick up a card for Mimi. His name was Josh Brumberger. He gave me his card and I gave him mine.

I thought about the card exchange for a split second after it happened. I realized that I, the self-described spiritual guide, and my website (which was unfinished and targeted at a much different demographic) could possibly trigger a little ridicule from a young political staffer but I let the thought go. I had picked up his card for Mimi and didn’t think that he would ever actually look at the site.

On our way out of the Regency, Glory, a musical theater actress, noticed a poster advertising a friend’s upcoming singing engagement. She asked us to wait for her. So while she popped back in to inquire about her friend, Mimi and I waited outside for her.

And then out of nowhere it happened: Johnny Reid Edwards came waltzing around the corner and into my life.

This was
the
moment. Not a “love at first sight” moment but it was the moment when something electric exploded between us. For me it was a little like one of those slow-motion movie moments; it felt like an eternity and yet it all happened very quickly.

As he rounded the corner, he saw me and just lit up. I was very surprised to see him so soon, even though I had felt certain our paths would cross again. I could feel his joy when he saw me and I responded to it. Much to my own astonishment, “You are so hot!” came flying out of my mouth. Not a usual greeting for me. And his friend Tony was right—he did like it. His smile got even brighter. He shook my hand so eagerly it felt as though he might jump into my arms as he said, “Thank you.”

And then another little surprise flew out of my mouth: “I can help you.”

He replied, “I want your help. I need your help.”

“Do you email?” I asked.

He said, “No. I am staying here under the name Matthew Nelson. Call me.”

“How long are you staying?” I asked.

He replied, “Until tomorrow morning. Call me. Call me.”

And then he was gone.

I had never in my life experienced anything like that meeting. It actually made me feel dizzy. There was a very strong connection between us, I was certain of it.

Mimi was standing next to me, just inches away during the entire exchange. She claims that she saw two people in their own world when Johnny and I shook hands. Mimi held her hand out the whole time attempting to shake hands with John Edwards, the man she wanted to work for. And not only did he not shake her hand, I found out later that he never even noticed her standing there.

Johnny also told me later that he had gone to dinner and could not stop thinking about me. He was mad at himself for not walking over to my table to find out who I was. When he was walking back to the hotel, he looked through the window into the Regency and saw that I was no longer sitting at our table. And much to his surprise he felt very disappointed, even sad. So when her rounded the corner and saw me standing, he felt very happy, with no real understanding as to why.

After the big crazy intro, we girls continued on to dinner and as we sat down, Glory and Mimi kept peppering me with questions and opinions: “What was
that
?” “Are you going to call?” “You have to call.” “You could really help him.” “You have to call him.”

We ordered our food, and I walked outside to call him. No answer. I hung up and figured that I would try again in a while.

A few minutes later, my cell rang. I dug into my coat for it and saw the number.

“What’s 212-759-4100?”

Mimi said immediately, “That’s the Regency.”

“What?” I was floored.

Did the Regency have caller ID?

It was too loud in the restaurant, so I got up and went into the bathroom to call him back.

I asked, “Do you always call women that you don’t know, that you meet on the street?”

“Nope, this is the first. I want to hear what you have to say. I am interested in hearing how you can help me. But, uh, my life is, uh, different.”

“You can’t exactly meet me in a public place.”

“Correct.”

“Because you can’t exactly be seen alone with a woman in the lounge.”

“Correct. Would you feel uncomfortable coming to my room?”

“No. I don’t feel uncomfortable at all.”

And I didn’t. There was so much immediate ease between us. He felt very familiar and safe to me, and I really thought I could help him.

“Let me finish my Caesar salad. I’ll be there in about fifteen, twenty minutes.”

He told me his room number, and we hung up.

I went back to the table to finish eating and informed the ladies that I was headed back to the Regency. They were very excited by this new development, as was I. I remember Glory was adamant about how I could not sleep with him; she had seen the connection and thought he was really attracted to me. More importantly, she thought that I
could
really help him, and that our country needed him. I told her that I had no intention of sleeping with him. I really did just want to help him.

My type of “teaching/life coaching” seems very simple on the outside. I sit with someone and, as they talk to me, I listen and begin seeing where he or she happens to be stuck in his or her head. And then I help them to see it, like holding up a mirror for them.

We all have mental habits that we repeat over and over again, and most people identify the world around them through the lens of these mental habits. They believe they
are
their mental habits. For example, if you have a habit of seeing what’s wrong around you, and you don’t know you have this habit, everywhere you look you’ll see what’s wrong, and then you’ll get upset about it over and over again. It’s all taking place inside of you, and the whole time you think the problem is being caused by someone or something outside of yourself. It’s as if you’re wearing special eyeglasses, and the lenses have “What’s wrong?” written on them. First you have to recognize that you’re wearing those glasses and then, at the very least, start reading what’s written on your lenses.

When you start seeing that you are not made up of mind patterns but actually the awareness that is
behind
the mind patterns, your whole life starts to change.

This is why I wanted to help John Edwards. I sensed that he was an interesting man who could offer some amazing things to the world, but that was not at all what I saw when I saw him on TV. My thinking was if he could just recognize his mental habits, the man I saw sitting in the Regency would be more likely to shine through on TV.

So I finished my Caesar salad, said goodbye to my friends, and headed back to the Regency to help John Edwards become more aware, to help him to see his mind patterns. That really
was
the plan. At least, it was the part of the plan that I was aware of.

I knocked. He opened the door, a smile lighting up his entire face. I walked in and, after the little hallway and past the bathroom, there was a table with two chairs, where I stopped. He passed me. I looked around the room, which had a king-sized bed with a chair and ottoman next to it. I noticed that he had his opened suitcase on the chair and ottoman. There was something happening between us that I had never felt before. There was a charge, an excitement that filled the room, as much energy as a sold-out rock concert—and it was just the two of us. I didn’t understand the force of what was going on between us and it scared me. At the same time, I liked the unknown and the newness of it all. I stayed at the table. He sat on the bed.

“I can’t see you way over there,” he said. “Come over here—I won’t bite.” It may sound cheesy now, but to me it felt sweet and charming.

I can see now that what I should have said was, “Sorry, there is more attraction here than I first realized. I need to stop right here or I won’t be able to work with you because I won’t see clearly.”