My Brief Anthony Bourdain Encounter

This morning I learned the shocking news that celebrity chef and TV star Anthony Bourdain died in France, allegedly from suicide but the complete facts of the matter are unclear at the moment. 

The point is, he's gone, suddenly and shockingly. The tributes are pouring in, social media is abuzz, and people are tying to make sense of the senseless. Sometimes things happen, and people do things, that defy the ability to comprehend. We have to leave it at that. 

I never read any of Bourdain's books but I loved his TV shows where he traveled the world ate exotic foods with fascinating people. At a time when so many people, in so many countries, are looking inward and trying to shut out the world, Anthony Bourdain literally showed us what a huge, amazing, complex, and tasty place the globe really is, and how lucky we all are to live in it. Not for nothing, many people, myself included, aspire to emulate his adventures.

And I met him once.

For a man who lived an exciting life, my extremely brief encounter with Anthony Bourdain has to be one of its most boring events.

Believe it or not, for a time, we both lived in the same building -- in fact, he and his first wife lived in the very building I grew up in. At the time I was running a small notary business, notarizing legal documents for people who lived in the building, and one night I got a call to come down and notarize legal documents for Anthony Bourdain and his wife. I went into their gorgeously decorated apartment, notarized one document for his wife, and then his wife roused Anthony so I could notarize another document. Bourdain stumbled out of his bedroom, looking more exhausted than I'd ever seen a person, and he collapsed onto his couch. (He had just returned from Asia and was seriously, seriously jet-lagged; this was around the time he was becoming mega-famous). He grunted, signed the document I prepared, and then stared at me with bloodshot eyes, clearly hoping that I'd clear out ASAP. I did, and I never saw him again but I remained a fan of his work over the years since.

I hope his family finds peace in this sad time. 

And I hope that his legacy -- his life of travel, food, people, and riches they bring to us -- will live forever.