Why was Justin Timberlake at a hotel in Charlottesville, Virginia? Do we care?

Last weekend was a big one in the pageant world. A major pageant was held about an hour away from where I work, and my little A, last year's queen, attended to pass her crown on to the next little girl.

(Okay, they're not so little, they're 7-8, but in my eyes, they're little.)

This is so cool because it gave me a chance to spend a long weekend with Jennifer, A, and B2, plus their friends with whom they drove up from Florida. I'd met A2, A's friend, at A's birthday party in January. She's a cute little girl, and when the two are in what Jennifer calls "full drag" (pageant hair and makeup), they look so much alike that sometimes I can't tell them apart in photos.

So anyway, Saturday afternoon, Jennifer got a call that "the limo is waiting" for A. Limo? What limo and why? To take last year's queens out to lunch at a local restaurant. The girls were really excited about this. All the mommies ran downstairs to take photos of their babies (some as old as 17 or 18) in front of and in the limo. As you might be able to see in the photo below, B2 was not impressed. He was terribly upset that Mommy left the room without him (he's only 3, although he's the size of a 6-year-old, except shorter--size six pants.)

(The limo is hidden behind the tree branches.)

When she entered the lobby on the way back in, Jennifer saw a crush of girls and mommies and the flash of cameras. A short, skinny, scruffy-looking guy in a watch hat pulled down over his ears was in the center, having his photo taken with mommies and girls. Justin Timberlake.

For a few seconds I was confused. Why on earth would he be in Charlottesville? Oh yeah, the new John Paul Jones Arena, concert night. $500 for seats at the bar surrounding the stage. The "sexyback" dance floor. The nausea.

Turns out that A2's mom saw his bus pull up behind the hotel. Justin got out, walked around the bus, and changed his shirt, in 30-degree weather, in full view of the rooms on that side of the hotel. Of course, women were taking his photo through the windows. Then he walked around the front of the hotel and entered the lobby.

I guess that was kind of nice of him, although he and his backup singers could have easily entered the back of the hotel and not been accosted by a bunch of preteens. If you've got it, flaunt it. The girls were thrilled.

Jennifer was not impressed. "He's just a person."

Did I tell you that my sister Joan and I met Don Henley?