When most people hear the name Bridges associated with Hollywood, the name Jeff precedes it. You know, “The Dude” from The Big Lebowski…that Jeff Bridges. This is not the case for Leah. For Leah, the Bridges brother that shines in her mind is Beau.
I’ve mentioned several times about our Today Show appearance. Today’s post highlights one of the untold moments from that experience.
To this day, one of the biggest highlights from our claim to fame experience for Leah was something that happened entirely behind the scenes before we even went on for our segment. How upside down and on brand of her;).
An important backstory, unrelated (or so we thought), is that during the months leading up to the New York trip, a certain episode of one of Leah’s favorite TV Shows at the time, The Closer, caught her attention. She adored it. Specifically, she was drawn to an actor who made an appearance just for that episode.
Enter: Mr. Beau Bridges. He came into her life and she could not get enough of the episode. It honestly confused all of us quite a bit, as none of us had even heard of Beau Bridges prior to the episode, including Leah.
Fast forward to The Today Show experience. As our family was escorted to hair and makeup a man walked out of a nearby area, sparking Leah’s attention. My butterflies had blinded me to anything that was going, so I don’t recall this in the least. I couldn’t tell you what the hallways looked like. The only thing that I really remember is the pit in my stomach as the hair lady was styling my hair in all of the wrong ways (this can be noted by the seriously worried look on my face in the picture below).
Leah’s going to take the story from here for a bit, because honestly, I didn’t even know this was happening right beside me. The fact that one of Leah’s greatest moments was happening one foot away from me, and I didn’t even notice is a lesson against self-absorption in itself. Alright Leah, I promise that the next time we are on The Today Show, I will remember to be more attentive to my surroundings and less concerned with my hair.
When I got and my whole family got the news about that Lindsay’s letter had win and we got to be on The Today Show with Kathie Lee & Hoda and we went to New York and went to be on the show I got surprised and excited. And really very happy. Wow.
I had been watching and loving the show of The Closer. And I had been watching again and again the episode that is my favorite with Beau Bridges is in the episode called The Makeover. And I really want to and love to tell you about my all time favorite episode and it is at the end of this blog posting.
On that day in New York City on The Today Show I look over when we wait in the Green Room and see someone and my mom asked what I was looking at and wondering about it and I say to her Umm, is that who is over there I’m wondering is that over there Beau Bridges over to the side by the Green Room to wait to be on the show?
And I had got super really surprised and excited and really super excited and I didn’t know Beau Bridges was going to be on The Today Show before I was got to be on The Today Show that same day.
I had got very really super surprised and I was wondering and go off to the side about it when I was sitting in the chair with the makeup artist to get ready to be on the show on The Today Show.
And then Beau Bridges open the door and he come into the makeup room and it was very really nice that he pull up a chair and sit next to me and he say to me, Hi I heard that you liked when I was in the show The Closer. And I say oh, Hi, Nice to meet you. Yes, yes I do. I really love the show it make me laugh.
We have not able to take a picture in that area so my mom put her camera away. But then he said to me and to my mom Before I leave we will take that picture together. And my mom got the shot of Beau Bridges and me together. It is in a Today Show picture frame and I keep it in my room and look at it a lot and it help me to remember and cherish in my heart with the very special moment.
I think the word that I want to say is that he was very generous that he take his time and when he come down and sit next to me to talk to me and when we take the special picture together.
I can’t help but shake my head and laugh as we have worked on this post. I have diligently tried to help Leah understand that the post was not intended to be a play by play re-cap of her favorite episode of The Closer. The focus of the post, rather, was about the moment when she met him.
Alas, she insisted, relentlessly sending me pictures from the episode. She has won this battle. You may find her highlights from the episode at the bottom of this post. If anything, it further illustrates that she really does love that dang episode. Also, I don’t find it a coincidence that the episode is basically all about inclusion and accepting others. Leah has an eye for this type of thing.
I consulted with my mom for the scoop on the whole “Meeting Beau Bridges” story, and she filled me in. As mentioned, around that time Leah had recently become his #1 fan because of The Closer. If Mr. Bridges was truly in the building, my mom was going to find out.
She approached the staffer who escorted us to the makeup area. Once it was confirmed that the man was, in fact, Beau Bridges, my mom told her about Leah. The staffer loved it and wanted to go tell him and left the room. When she came back, he was with her.
He then pulled up a chair and not only introduced himself, but engaged in conversation with Leah for as long as the producers would allow him to (his segment was coming in hot and they needed him to head towards the set).
As expected, my mom was so excited and asked him to take a photo. He was thrilled to capture the moment. Well, the camera she pulled out might as well have been a snake because she was instantly scolded that no pictures were allowed in that area. Leah and Beau continued their convo for a bit longer, but then it was really time for him to go.
Before he left, he looked at my mom and said, “you know what, take out that camera. How about that picture, mom.” She hesitated, he insisted. And that picture has sat in Leah’s room for 8+ years. It’s one of her favorite pictures of all time.
Although I was too concerned with my hair at the time to recognize the lessons happening right beside me at the time, they are shining brightly today.
First of all, I discovered that Leah was onto something with her intuition about this guy. He is a great human. Secondly, it validated my previous post on Leah bringing out the best in others.
You know what though, it goes even deeper than my last post. Both Mom and Leah gave others the opportunity to show grace. Maybe that’s where we need to start.
To begin, Mom took her shot with the Today Show staffer. She knew how much it would mean to Leah to meet him, and didn’t let that chance get away from her. By doing so, she created the space for the staffer to go off-script and tell Beau about Leah. This was not something she had to do, but something she graciously chose to do.
And Leah? In showing her support and adoration for Mr. Bridge’s work…in being her sweet and gentle self…she opened the space for Beau to spend a few minutes with her and to insist on capturing the moment in a photo. This was not something he had to do, but something he graciously chose to do.
If we believe in the goodness of others, our interactions and our actions will shift. Space will open up. Opportunities will arise for others to show grace – not because they have to, but because they choose to.
Here’s to turning our minds Upside Down.
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On My Favorite Episode of The Closer
When Beau Bridges make the appearance in the show of The Closer that is the episode that I love to watch over and over and again and again. My favorite scenes it is when Beau Bridges is in them and the episode is The Makeover. And I want to tell you about my all time favorite episode.
My favorite scene is when his old friend turn around to see his old friend again when he come back in town. In the episode when he went to the Police Station to talk and go over things with his old friend and then Beau Bridges had talk to the Chief and her name was Chief Johnson.
When his old friend make him to start to cry it make me laugh because I dont why but it make me laugh.
When it was almost at the end of the show I love the way that he was holding the hand of the Chief at the Police Station. And I was thinking that is my favorite and make me laugh.
And also when he did a makeover and I like that scene.
When the two of the friends finally see each other together and he say that’s the George I remember and then Beau Bridges say that’s the Louis I missed.
And when they say the goodbyes together on the show it is the shoes that he was wearing when he was walking. When he was talking to me he was saying about that he said to me how do ladies always wear high heels?
I also want to say that there is had another TV Show and he was in the show The Millers too and he was acting of the Father in the show. And the show was funny too. I like it and it was good but I not sure it is my favorite. I like it and love it and it is okay and I do enjoy it but my all-time favorite is the episode of the show on The Closer that I watch over and over and again and again.
There were things that I really want to squeeze into this post.
I try to narrow it down to 4 pictures and it was really hard because I had took a lot of pictures of my favorite scenes and moments in the episode. And I did really good to narrow it down to 9 pictures. I was thinking to put the pictures side by side in the post so that they can be able to fit.
I was thinking a little bit to explain a little bit of things to you from the episode of The Closer that I love with Beau Bridges and I want to do that. And I just wanted to say something about that for you to learn about it.
Love, Leah
