When I saw him the day after the plane and helicopter crash at Reagan I knew exactly why he was in town. "Lester Holt?" He turned, looked down at me and smiled, "Yes." "I'm a big fan," I said. He thanked me, I smiled, and left him. I have never been able to ask a celebrity for an autograph or picture. I immediately regretted it, but I also knew he was lost in his own thoughts at that moment. He was standing outside the bodega at DC Union Station. Days later he made news with the announcement of his departure from NBC Nightly News. Suddenly, his quiet introspection, gazing outside an open store, made sense. I believe in that moment his quasi-retirement flooded his thoughts. There is no way this was his choice. TV lore is ripe with stories of the old dog favored for the younger model (Tom Llamas, in this case). But Lester is a musician at heart, so when the bosses came to him and said numbers were down, he knew just how to play this. A classy exit. In ...