The King Is Coming!   The King Is Coming!

Mom  took me to the airport in Memphis to meet Dad who was returning from a job search trip.   I was 4, maybe 5.   It is an early memory.   The airport was a fascinating place for me.   So many people all moving around.   Out of the air loudspeakers announcing flights.   A bustle of freedoms now gone.

People just seemed to drop out of the sky, and then be on the ground.   You could see them  walk to planes on the tarmac, up steps to get in, or come out all like Presidents.

I was short then.   You are often looking up when you are a kid.   It’s hard to see what’s going on in crowds.

Back then everybody wore hats.   People dressed up as  for travel, or even visits to the airports in the same clothes they might wear to church.

Of a sudden I heard,   "The King is Coming!  The King is Coming!"

The crowd was moving, legs  pivoting towards one direction to which I turned.

My God, The King?   We shall see the King!

Not a King, but The King!

Somehow I found a clear view of the ramp.

Across the tarmac, came striding The King, Elvis in all his glory.

He was dressed in White, white shoes, white pants, white shirt with the tails out cut straight  as are the Christian Dior summer shirts.

Following him, and around him  it seemed there must have been 15 grey suited men, following him,  behind him  just enough so that you knew  they were with him, there to protect him, but following him.

Oh my God, its the King!   I’d seen the King!

Not a King, Not the President, but "The King".

The excitement, Love, and awe I felt was a powerful event.

I truly believe that it had a powerful subconscious influence on me, subility causing me to want to be a King myself.

Years go by and you wonder why you have done what you have done.

Well, I saw Elvis at the Memphis Airport, and the rest is History!