The time Katie Couric came to town

Last weekend I got leftover tickets to an event and the keynote speaker was Katie Couric. Elissa and I went with no expectations because really? Katie Couric? How inspirational could she be?

Turns out...VERY. And funny, too! I was laughing so hard at the beginning of her talk there were tears streaming down my face. She had clearly done her Minnesota research because she started out her speech referencing the college party bar on campus, Sally's. "It's spring in Minnesota and thank goodness because that means the patio Sally's at  is open and who doesn't love throwing back $1 rail drinks at Sally's under the stars?" She talked about the Twin's new Target Field and the Gopher's TCF Bank Stadium, managing to throw in a little jab at our long time rivals the University of Wisconsin Badgers, "UW Madison was my back up school."

There were a lot of things she told us that I didn't know about her. Her husband died of colon cancer at age 41 and her sister died five years later of another form of cancer. To raise awareness for colorectal cancer she did a colonoscopy on air which resulted in what researchers in Michigan are calling, "The Couric Effect;" a 20% rise in colon cancer screenings nationwide. She called this the greatest accomplishment of her life.

As a single mother with two daughters, ages 1 and 5, she continued her on site reporting of everything from 9/11 to the 35W bridge collapse here in Minnesota, the Olympics to the earthquake in Haiti. After the speech she did a question and answer portion and seemed very down to earth and family focused. Overall, both Elissa and I were pleasantly surprised at how entertaining and interesting she was.

But the highlight of the night came when I texted my little brother her Sally's quote and he responded, "You're at Sally's? Who is Katie Couric?"

Really? REALLY?!? He claims he knows someone with a similar last name and thought I had run into her at the bar. Suuuuuure...

Oh and Katie (yes, we're on a first name basis since she stopped by the table next to ours and was close enough that I could have hit her with a spitball if I had tried) is on Twitter, too. We tweeted her, asking if she wanted to join us for a drink at Sal's next time she's in town. No response. Bummer.

*Disclaimer: This picture is awful but we were in a dark hockey arena and I used my cell phone.