Courtesy Photo Laura Greenway greets President Barack Obama in her front yard at Fort McNair March 7.

It is almost impossible to meet the president of the United States. The secret service makes sure no one gets close to the president at any time. This includes acting or past presidents. He is surrounded and protected at all times. When the president and his Family go anywhere, such as ice skating or to a restaurant, the area is cleared out and the Family is either alone or with a small amount of selected people that have been determined safe. That is, unless the person happens to live on a military base that is considered secure like where I live.

I live on Fort McNair, a small Army post in the Southwest corner of Washington D.C. Most people do not know about this place, but it has been around since 1779. The sign on the wall says so. The Army Industrial College, the Military College of the Americas and the original War College are here.

The truth is, I never thought I would live on a military base after I got out of the Navy in 1993, even after I married Bill Greenway in 2003.

My husband is on active duty in the Army working with reserve units. He was working in Sturtevant, Wis. in 2007 when he received orders to move to Washington, D.C. We had no choice in the matter.

When we first came to D.C. and moved into our housing unit, we realized that this was not an average Army post. Helicopters land in front of our house quite often. After the inauguration in January 2009, former vice president Dick Cheney was airlifted from Washington from right outside. Many diplomats and important people come and go from this small base.

President Obama comes here occasionally to play basketball in the gym behind my house. The first time President Obama came here to play basketball was last summer. It was a beautiful day and a lot of our neighbors were sitting in the backyard enjoying the day. I was working on a chapter in my manuscript.

Bill never saw the president’s entourage by the gym. After I finished my chapter, we went outside, but by then, the president and his assembled group had left. Our neighbors showed us pictures of how the president had come over to them and did a ‘‘meet and greet” and shook hands with everyone. We were a bit upset that we missed out on that. I was going to put on the inside cover of my book that I missed meeting the president because I was working on it.

Another time, a couple of weeks ago, our neighbor called to tell us the president was at the gym again. We sat on our porch and watched. We never did see the president.

We think he must have come and gone through a different door. I went to work late that morning because his protection detail had our driveway blocked. I would never be able to say that I was late coming to work because of the president playing basketball if I still lived in Wisconsin.

Today, March 7, is the last day that my cousin Paul and his wife Kathy are going to be here. We visited monuments and did a lot of tourist things in the last few days.

We were going to take a walk around the post. It is a beautiful sunny day with a temperature in the high 50’s. I went to let the dog outside and I saw all of the black Chevy Suburbans. The president was at the gym again. I came inside and told Paul and Kathy about the president and his entourage being at the gym.

We sat on the back steps of my house and watched for the president. At first, I told Paul and Kathy to be discreet with their cameras. I wasn’t sure how the secret service would respond to a group of people snapping pictures.

But my neighbor came out with his camera around his neck and in full view of everyone, he started taking pictures. No one bothered him, so I asked him if it was acceptable to take photos and he said it was.

We took some photos as I watched president come out of the gym with a small group of people.

Paul and Kathy both yelled, ‘‘Hello, Mr. President!”

I wasn’t sure if that was acceptable or not, but we heard President Obama tell his people, ‘‘I’ve got to meet these people.”

As he was walking toward us, he noticed our dog, Joy. He looked at her and said, ‘‘What a beautiful dog. It’s a Lassie dog.”

I said, ‘‘Yes. She is a Collie. Her name is Joy.”

Then he walked up to Kathy and shook her hand. He asked her name and she replied, ‘‘Kathy Pedersen. I am from Wisconsin.”

President Obama then shook Paul’s hand. When he got to me, he asked my name and I said, ‘‘I am Laura Greenway, and I live here.”

He said, ‘‘I should bring my dog Bo over to play with your dog.”

I replied, ‘‘That would be great. We would like that.”

If he said anything else, my brain did not process it. I think he just smiled and said something about how it was nice to meet us and turned and walked away, back to his waiting car.

I am rarely tongue-tied or caught off-guard and have that ‘‘deer-in-the-headlights look.” But, meeting the leader of the free world will do that to you. At least, it did it to me.

I never thought in a million years that the president of the United States would actually walk out of his way to meet me, Paul and Kathy.

To me, especially as someone who has served in the military, to actually meet the commander-in-chief, was an incredible experience. What are the chances of an average American meeting the president?

Unless they are out on the campaign trail, I would imagine that any president or presidential nominee doesn’t associate with everyday, average Americans very often. Even then, I would imagine there would be no dialogue, just a quick handshake.

I know that he shakes hands with people every day. I have watched President Obama shake hands with senators and congressmen.

But now I have a photograph where I, an average American, have also shaken the hand of Barack Obama, the president of the United States.

(Greenway is an Army Family member living on Fort McNair.)