Star sightings occur when you see a celebrity out walking around in the world, like a regular person or something.  A celebrity, according to the currently accepted definition, is a person who has been in People magazine.

I have seen quite a few celebrities in the flesh, starting with Sam Snead, whom I saw when I was a young girl. My father took me along with him to see Sam play a round at the Tennanah Lake Golf Club. Snead was also an architect of the golf course.

Dad also brought me along with him on August 19, 1966, when President Lyndon B. Johnson flew into Stewart Air Force Base on his way to open the Ellenville Hospital as a favor to Joseph Resnick. Through the chain link fence we saw Air Force One roll up and LBJ came down the stairs.

My daughter Liz was in the Woodstock Youth Theater with Chris Sarandon’s kid, so you would see him around some of the productions. Sarandon is most famous for his portrayal of the feckless Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride. Quite handsome.

I have been lucky enough to go to many Broadway shows and seen many wonderful stars onstage, but you can’t really claim those as celebrity encounters, unless of course your daughter is friends with a Broadway dresser, and he works with fabulous people like Neil Patrick Harris who gives you a kiss when he finds out it’s your birthday when you go backstage at Hedwig. Unless that.

Over the years I’ve seen John Krasinski at Uniqlo in Manhattan, at the height of his run on The Office. I looked over, saw him, and gave him a little shove, as if to say, “Do you realize who you are?” He swiftly fled the scene.

One day my daughter and I were grabbing some breakfast at the Café Lalo (where You’ve Got Mail was filmed) and saw Bono from U2 just finishing up. Of course, he was wearing sunglasses. Hides the crow’s feet, don’t you know.

Saw Vanessa Redgrave getting tea at a Starbucks once.  Saw Meryl Streep years ago over in Rhinebeck at the Sinterklaas celebration with her little ones.

One of my better finds was Hamilton author and star Lin Manuel Miranda and his wife, who was expecting their second child at the time. We were in the Shops at Columbus Circle, and I wandered into the Amazon store to look around when I spotted them. I mean, I don’t ask for selfies or bother these people. I learned my lesson with Krasinski. They’re just people, after all, and they just want to be left alone to live their lives. 

The only famous people I would probably lose my cool around would be Barack and Michelle Obama.  You know I’m taking a picture if I ever got lucky enough to see them!

I’m not as fortunate as my niece Claire, who apparently partied with Mark Ruffalo on New Year’s Eve.  Not that I’m jealous or anything…