This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show, from the arts to sports and from business to history and everything in between,

including your story, send them to Our American Stories.com.

They're some of our favorites.

And today we have a feature from one of our regular contributors, Stephen Rossiniac.

This piece is titled An Hour to Chat, and to read about the backstory of this story, please visit stephenraciniac.com.

Here's Stephen sharing this story.

Can you imagine if only it were possible, if only it were true?

A photo of a bench on a grassy hill overlooking a place where an ocean's waves are succumbing upon a distant sandy shoreline showed up today in my email inbox

with a simple and yet thought-provoking question. If you could sit here and chat for one hour

with anyone past or present, who would it be?

Immediately, a plethora of possibilities began flooding my thoughts.

As an unabashed history buff, my mind immediately went into overdrive as the faces of countless historical figures suddenly

appeared in my mind's eye, all of them vying for what I selfishly saw as a coveted chance

for someone of historical significance to spend an hour sitting on this bench and chatting with me. I imagined questioning any one of them

about their life, about their successes and failures, about the choices that they had made that

ultimately led to their fame, their fortune, or in some cases their downfall.

I considered briefly the potential picks that others might have chosen as well,

and I suspect their answers would certainly have included the rich and the famous.

Actors, rock stars, revered religious icons, presidents, or famous sports heroes, perhaps the likes of John Wayne, John Lennon, John the Baptist, John Adams, or maybe even pitching great Tommy John, each of whom a worthy selection in their own right,

but in the end none of them would have been my choice. If the idea posed by this question

were truly plausible, and if, by chance, it was offered me, admittedly, I would have the audacity to request

a small caveat before making my selection. I would immediately request permission to double my allowed

...