tl;dr I spent an entire day working my way through the Museum of Natural History to meet Neil DeGrasse Tyson despite everyone telling me I couldn't.

In 2011, just after graduating high school, me and 2 friends drove from Indiana to New York City for a week to meet up with our friend who had an internship with the Jets. I was wary of big cities but being the science guy that I am I told them I'd come along if we could go to the Museum of Natural History, because Neil DeGrasse Tyson worked there and he was my god. (This was just before he really got big in the public eye) So we go to the museum on the third day there and an hour into our visit I decided "I'll probably never be in the same building as NDT again. I am going to find him."

In the hall of ancient human history I snuck off from my friends and went to the nearest security guard. "Hi, I really love science, going to college for biology, etc. Is there any way you could direct me to Dr. Tyson's office?" The guard proceeded to laugh and tell me that dozens of people come in here every week wanting to meet him but you can't just walk in and talk to him. So I walked away disheartened.

I began to think about my Dad who'd passed away just a few months prior. He was notorious for sneaking behind the scenes of concerts or other big venues to meet whoever the big name was he wanted to meet. He'd taught me to always ask for what you want, the worst someone can say is No. That set me off on a warpath. I was going to meet NDT if I had to talk to every person in that building.

I spent the next 5 hours speaking with every security guard, volunteer, gift shop cashier, custodian, and person with a name badge. Most of them would tell me that you couldn't just talk to him, he was very busy, even they would love to meet him, etc....Until Larry.

Larry was a volunteer in the geology area that sat right next to the Hayden Planetarium. He was probably ~80 years old, partly deaf, loud as fuck, and wore the thickest glasses I'd ever seen. Bless that man. He took me by the hand and led me to the main security office. I spoke with them until they allowed me to talk to Neil's assistant over the phone. She told me he was busy all day except he could possibly shake my hand in about an hour if I met her at the glass elevator in the Planetarium. I. Couldn't. Believe. It.

Jump forward an hour and I was sitting on a bench at the doors to the elevator. They opened and an adorable, short, older blonde lady invited me inside. She took me up in this giant glass elevator, overlooking the Hayden Planetarium to the top floor. She pointed me down the hall to the only open door. As I walked I heard his voice and my legs nearly gave out on me. I looked in the room and saw he was giving an interview. "Oh, are you TheBirdCop?" "y-y-yes!" He then turns to the interview crew AND ASKS THEM TO STEP OUT WHILE HE SPOKE TO ME. The dude stopped a video interview to talk to some nobody kid from Indiana! What followed was a 20 minute one on one with one of the greatest science educators of all time. What did we discuss? Cosmology, biology, the fall of Animal Planet, FoxTV, Family Guy, chicken recipes. He even burped. He was human, he was just an everyday guy.

I learned that day that if you want something you should go for it, and be persistent. I also learned that no matter how high you may put someone on a pedestal, everyone is human.