Meeting Mark Wahlberg!

I've been extremely fortunate in my career. In almost 30 years of serving in the United States Navy on active duty, I met many famous people. Among them are some pretty cool celebrities. Mark Walhberg ranks among the most down-to-earth and genuine of them all.

Most of the time, when I met people on base, it was a short introduction, with maybe a chance to take a photo. Sometimes, as a ship Captain, or in this case, the Commander of the largest naval base on the West coast, I got to tour people and get to know them a little.

Now and then, I got to bring my daughters along to meet the celebrities. On this particular day, I got to hang out with the one and only Mark Wahlberg, which many people know because of his many movies, and his former singing days as Marky Mark.

Best of all, my daughters got a real chance to sit with him and ride around as we toured Naval Base San Diego. It was a fantastic day for them. It was especially nice for my daughter Yvana, as she is an actress, albeit just starting In college. Mark was gracious enough to talk to her about acting.

But I have to admit, meeting him was also pretty cool for me. Not every day do you show off your bike to a movie star and get them to pose with it. Getting Mark to take some pictures with my Sporty as a biker was priceless!