Here is what I remember, and a little poetic license to boot. A few years back, I read an article about a freelance journalist who had just snagged a “gig” to do an interview with William Shatner. In the process of compiling a list of topics she wished to discuss at the meeting, her thoughts kept returning to her mother. The journalist’s mother was a huge Shatner, and Star Trek fan. Weighing the pros and cons of dragging along “others” on any interview, the woman was hesitant to bring her mother. She loved her mother, and like many professional women, strived to find ways to share more time with her, but she was also concerned that her mother’s personal enthusiasm for Star Trek would hamper her daughter’s professional agenda. The journalist decided she would have to risk it because her mother would love the opportunity to meet Shatner.

The actual meeting went great. The journalist got a great interview; Shatner was funny, engaging, and gracious. Her mother was every bit as charming; courteous of “the job at hand,” and beaming with pride as her daughter skillfully weaved in and out of questions, mixed with patience as Shatner recalled such stories as his life as a horse trainer, early acting on the TV show, The Twilight Zone, living in L.A, and yes, Star Trek.

At the end of an extended lunch, the group prepared to depart ways. Shatner and the journalist thanked each other for their respective time. As far as Mom goes; Shatner gave her a kind, warm extended handshake, and a gentleman-like peck on the cheek.

Outside on the way through the parking lot, Mom lost all cool and composure and with the nature of a teenage, boy-crazed school girl, began to flood the conversation with recaps of lunch, Shatner and Star Trek. The daughter wishing to make a quick “mental facilities” check that adult children sometimes throw at their “older” parents spoke up and said; “Ma, you know there’s a big difference between the two men you’re talking about right?”

Instantly, the Mother shot back, “Don’t be foolish dear, of course there is; I just had lunch with William Shatner, the actor, at a restaurant in Los Angeles.”

The daughter was relieved to hear that her mother was as sharp as ever, but slightly disappointed with the possibility that Mom may have been just as content not meeting Shatner at all.

Milliseconds later, the Mother stopped turned to her daughter, and looked up with a twinkle in her eye and said, “But for record, make no mistake; I just got kissed by Captain Kirk!”