Sir Patrick Stewart

Karl and I had the pleasure of meeting Sir Patrick Stewart at Dragon Con this year. Karl and I are both huge Star Trek fans. We both grew up watching Star Trek with our families. My love of all things Star Trek began at a very early age. I’m pretty sure my dad had me watching VHS tapes of the original series when I was a toddler, and while I was a fan of Kirk and the original crew, it was Star Trek: The Next Generation that I really fell in love with. Picard was my kind of captain — the calm, collected, noble leader that stuck to his principles, and spoke with an awesome accent. Picard was my first role model and one of my first crushes. I also considered him a father figure, but I restrained from mentioning that to Sir Patrick when I met him. I idolized Picard and admired Stewart’s portrayal of him. Uncanny resemblance aside, it probably comes as no surprise that I knew he would make a perfect Professor Xavier when I discovered X-Men comics in the early ’90s. Thankfully my dreams of him starring as the Professor, another character I idolized, would come true in 2000. I’m also a fan of Stewart’s other work. I get excited every time I find a film he has a part in and I would love to eventually see him on stage if the chance ever arises.

I wish I would have stood a little closer, but we took the picture with him before meeting him and it was such a rushed experience that I was extra nervous — lots of people were in line. Our Patrick Stewart experience was a one hour panel on Friday followed by the photo shoot, and then an actual meeting and brief conversation on Saturday. Karl and I were definitely smart about skipping the parade as the line for Sir Patrick was incredibly short compared to the line for the photoshoot on Friday. I’ve gotten pretty good about not letting my inner fangirl get out of control but I did get a tad over-excited in line and got someone to take a picture of me and Karl with Stewart behind us.

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I greeted him with ‘Hello Professor,’ he paused for a moment and said ‘I am you know’ and Karl and I talked with him about that for a bit. We also discussed whether ‘Sir’ would come before or after ‘Professor’ and he autographed our picture of him with Professor Sir Patrick so we’d remember. It’s been over a week since we met him and it still seems surreal. Though our encounter was brief, he seemed kind, patient, and very much the gentleman I imagined him to be both days so I am a super happy Carol. Some of our celebrity encounters have been less than ideal so I was a tiny bit worried I’d be disappointed. Thankfully I wasn’t and my admiration of Sir Patrick is just as strong as ever, and I can now check off meeting my favorite actor from my bucket list.