This week, I had a chance to step back in time. I stepped back to a moment that was full of hope and fun and excitement and anything else that means "a really great time". :-) I basically got to relive college auditions with Mark, and it was SO. MUCH. FUN!
We just finished up with eight puppies. We keep them for eight weeks, and by the time I hit week 6, I'm usually starting to feel pretty stressed out and down in the dumps. It's so much unrelenting work, taking care of them 24/7. So, I planned a trip just two days after the last pup left. I was honestly hoping for something bigger to do, with friends and such, but that didn't pan out, so I settled for the next best thing: Ann Arbor!
I had originally thought that I would spend five days there, just relaxing and doing whatever with Mark's apartment as the home base. In fact, I envisioned living the life that I keep hoping will happen: living in Ann Arbor, and intertwining my life with the kids' lives. However, due to a disorganized German music festival, Mark needed to take an audition right in the middle of my vacation, and it needed to happen in New York City no less. Gah, I couldn't have asked for a better spontaneous vacation, and you better believe I made the most of it! It was honestly two short days, packed with some funny as well as amazing experiences:
MARK'S APARTMENT
Yep, this is an experience in and of itself and consequently deserves its own category.
I drove over to Ann Arbor on Wednesday morning, arriving late in the afternoon. I decided to drop my stuff off at Mark's apartment before heading into town to meet up with the kids.
Holy smokes. I didn't even get five feet in the door, before I realized that if I was going to be staying with Mark for any length of time, I would need to do a bit of cleaning first. (To Mark's credit, this is the first time I've shown up that his apartment hasn't been spotless.) I literally dropped my suitcase in the front doorway and headed into the kitchen. There were dirty dishes to load in the dishwasher, and counters to scrub. It didn't take long, and I felt like I could breathe afterwards.
I then walked into the living room, trying to avoid stepping on the pile of mail on the floor. I decided to go through it. A W-2 form for a previous tenant that I knew would need to be forwarded, and a utility bill due in just three days. I threw out all the credit card applications.
I quickly changed into my dress clothes, just trying to not look down at the counter when I used the bathroom mirror....
I was running late as it was, but I decided to find the management office for the apartment complex so I could drop off the W-2 form and pay Mark's bill. The lady wasn't the nicest, but I got it done. And as I got back in the car, John called. And I was rushing to get into Ann Arbor. And I saw a huge brown gooey smear on my forearm. All I could think in that moment was, "I have to get this off my arm, or it's going to get on my sweater." And I was holding my phone to talk to John.
At that moment, I could think of nothing else, but to just lick it off.
Which I did.
Let's think about this, and what it could have been. And what diseases I could have caught. And what I was actually putting in my mouth.
Thankfully, it turned out to be chocolate. How it got there, and where it came from, I didn't know. However, I figured I had 48 hours before the lesions and boils began. Just enough time to get Mark to NYC and back.
DINNER IN ANN ARBOR
Normally, this would be some kind of event, because it was revisiting a favorite haunt. However, Ethan wanted me to try a new place, Pieology, a pizza place much like Moe's or Chipotle. You go down the row, picking your sauces, cheese and toppings, all for a super cheap, flat rate. Little did I think it through when I agreed to do this, because it just happened to be, in Ethan's words, "across the street from M-Den." Anyone who knows Ann Arbor knows that it doesn't get more "central" than this. And more busy at 5 p.m. And more full of students. And little to no parking.
I think it was a really great pizza. I think I saw Rebecca and Baby Annie for a brief moment. I think I may have visited the restroom at least three times, trying to remove whatever remnants of the unidentifiable chocolate on my arm. But I'm not sure about any of that, because in all honesty, I was doing everything I could to get through dinner and get out the door for one reason:
ATTENDING THE TEMPLE
No joke, I have not been to the temple in months which is really hard on me spiritually. I knew that if I did nothing else, I was going to attend the temple while in Ann Arbor. Unfortunately, because of future scheduling issues that will be discussed later in this blog, Wednesday night was it for me, and there is only one session Wednesday evening in Detroit.
So now, if you think back on what you've already read, you might understand how much pressure I had felt throughout the day. I needed to leave State College in time to get to Ann Arbor (a 5.5 hour drive on a good day), stop by Mark's apartment to change and pick up dress clothes and his temple clothes for him, pay a bill, drive into downtown Ann Arbor at rush hour, wait for pizza to cook, and still make it to the temple during rush hour around Detroit.
Honestly, folks, these are the moments I live for. I couldn't have been happier. And this is why I couldn't think of a better solution to smeared brown stuff on my arm than just licking it off.
And Ethan added to my happiness by not having his renewed temple recommend in his wallet. Nope, it was left at home (a 20 minute drive out of the way), so he was making phone calls after dinner to figure out if he could just show up at the temple and figure it out then.
We hugged and kissed Rebecca quickly while we ran back to our parked cars. Cars parked at meters that couldn't be left there. However, we could leave cars at the Institute building on campus, so we all met over there, the boys hopped in my car (with dress clothing in tow), and we headed out to the temple.
Ethan didn't have any problem getting in, and we had a glorious session. I always get emotional when I see my boys sitting together in the temple. It is such a blessing to John and me that their recommends are always current, and that they are always worthy. And they are quite a sight to see together. They are so good looking, and tall, that they are a commanding presence every time, and I love to see people looking at them in awe.
I think we closed down the celestial room, because we definitely stayed in there a while. And at the end, we stood in front of one of the mirrors in the room and wished that we had snuck in our phones to take a picture (not really, but kind of really). The temple reminds us of what's really important, and at that moment, I had two of seven people there who are everything to me.
Of course, we completely forgot to take a picture at the end of it all. Ugh.
GOING BACK TO THE INSTITUTE
The drive felt so fast. I love talking to my boys. The conversation never lags.
Unfortunately, at some point while changing cars (Ethan was taking Mark's car for the next few days), Ethan hurt himself and starting yelling at Mark. I'm not sure exactly how it all happened, but it was horrific. I was actually worried that someone would call the cops on us, because it sounded like some kind of bar room brawl. It was a very sad way to end the evening, but life happens, right?
GETTING FOUR HOURS OF SLEEP
So, the next morning, Mark and I were scheduled to fly to NYC for his audition. I knew that he didn't need me there, but I so badly wanted a vacation that I asked him if I could go with him. Turns out, we were both relieved that we both wanted each other there :-) We didn't get back from the temple until after 11 p.m., and our flight was departing just seven hours later. We basically just took a four hour nap, woke back up, got in the car and made our flight.
FORGETTING MEDS
I wish this wasn't one of my travel experiences, but I feel the need to record this for posterity.
I had forgotten to take my meds the night before, mostly because I was again trying to avoid looking at Mark's bathroom counter. No cup meant I needed to go in the kitchen, and I just spaced it.
I don't believe in ten years of taking daily meds I have ever forgotten to take them.
However, when I woke up at 3:50 a.m. and was packing my stuff, there were my meds on the counter. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten to take them, so I actually counted all of the meds out to verify that I still had what I had packed. And I did. Thankfully, I wasn't showing any allergy signs yet, so I took them quickly.
Among those meds is a probiotic. My poor intestines have been so stripped by everything with all of the antibiotics that I have taken for years for my chronic sinus infections that I'm trying to get everything back to normal now that my sinuses are under control. I didn't think much of taking that probiotic along with everything else.
Fast forward to our plane ride. Maybe 30% of the seats were full, the lights were completely turned off, and everyone was sleeping. Everyone, that is, except for ME! Nope, I spent quite a bit of the plane ride in the bathroom. Ugh.
GETTING TO THE AUDITION
This was by far the "least" of all the experience we had. We flew into LaGuardia, dropped off our stuff at the nearby hotel, Mark warmed up in our hotel room for a half hour, we took the train into the city, transferred to another train, and walked seven blocks to the Manhattan School of Music. It honestly went smoother than I could have planned it.
And Mark says the audition went fine. He spoke German the entire time to the judges, and he even met a girl from Berlin who was also auditioning. The judges were super laid-back, making it a rather unusual audition experience. It's all a waiting game now. Not much more to say.
And again, I forgot to take a picture.
TAKING THE SUBWAY
We were on the subway for several hours over the 24 hour period. You would not believe now happy it made Mark. All kinds of memories from his mission came flooding back to him, and thankfully I was there to hear all of them :-)
LUNCH
I desperately wanted to take Mark to Shake Shack in NYC. Turns out, there was one just a mile from our hotel back in Queens, so we hopped back on the train and went there. Oh man, after dieting for a month, that hamburger tasted like GOLD! And I might have had some french fries too. I did resist ordering a shake though, planning (correctly) on drinking the dregs of Mark's shake (he can never completely finish one). And for the first time, I remembered to take a picture! Barely, seeing as we were waiting for the shuttle back to our hotel, but one nonetheless.
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
And here comes the moment that I had really been hoping for since last October. Catching a Broadway show. For some reason, I've been wanting to see several shows in New York for a while, and I was so happy to have an excuse to see one now.
I had originally given Mark five options of shows we could see, and he opted to narrow the choices down to two (Fiddler on the Roof, and An American in Paris), and leave the final decision to me. You can probably guess what I chose, based on the title of this experience :-)
After taking a nap in our hotel room, we hopped back on the hotel shuttle to the metro station (seeing our lives flash before our eyes several times), and took the train to Times Square. We did a bit of shopping, but mostly we headed to the theatre.
Words cannot describe the beauty of that show. Mark told me that he's going to write about it, so I'm hoping that his artistic mind will be able to capture the wonder more accurately than I can. However, we both left that theatre wide-eyed, dreamy and artistically fulfilled. It was a stunning performance from all levels: the story, the music, the dancing, the set design. I honestly questioned the fairness of God giving a select few people so much talent and beauty. However, Bernie Sanders isn't god, so some have more than others I guess, and the rest of us just have to deal with that. I told Mark afterwards that I wish we could have hit "pause" throughout the performance and rewound everything a couple of seconds to watch it again. There was just so much to see, and I didn't have ten eyes to see it all.
We found out afterwards that the show has won numerous Tony awards and was nominated for even more. No surprise there.
M&M WORLD AND HARD ROCK CAFE
Johannah had reminded me that the best M&Ms can be bought at the Times Square M&M World, and she was right. I bought several pounds of different colors and flavors, and it didn't take long for me to start eating straight out of my bag.
Too, it was 10:30 at night, and we hadn't had dinner. We've been to the Times Square Hard Rock Cafe so many times before that I thought Mark wouldn't want to go there. However, his face lit up when I mentioned it, so we crossed the street and headed in. Turns out, that late at night there's no wait, so we were seated immediately, and served soon after. Just appetizers and drinks, but it tasted like manna from heaven. Plus, for the first time in all of our Hard Rock history, the videos that were played were all songs that we know and like. Our very gay waiter was happily singing and dancing to all of them too which made the night even better. I don't think either of us wanted the night to end. However, there was a train to catch, sleep to sleep and a plane leaving early in the morning.
We hopped back on the train, thinking it would be the same short 25 minute ride back to the hotel. In fact, we needed to be back by midnight to catch the shuttle before it closed down for the night. We even tried to take a selfie, but I can't make the face Mark wants me to make. Instead I start smiling:
TWO HOURS LATER.....
Turns out, the trains don't run quite as efficiently at night. They stop a lot due to "train traffic". Our minds were boggled, knowing that not as many trains were running, and yet it seemed to be rush hour on the tracks. Finally, Mark made the suggestion that we just get out and take a taxi the rest of the way. A brilliant suggestion.
A ten minute taxi ride later, we were back at our hotel, quibbling with our taxi driver over the tip. Both Mark and I were giving him a lecture about tipping and how it supposed to be based on performance and what a person feels he wants to give, but our taxi driver didn't support that ideal. He felt that he got to demand his tip. I was happy to see that Mark has adopted my Southern way of speaking my mind, and didn't back down from the argument. In the end, I was pulling nickels out of my wallet to tip him, and he basically threw us out of the cab.
So much for a solid eight hours of sleep. It was more of a nap again, and we were at the airport at 8 a.m.
A FREAK SNOWSTORM
I had been checking the weather for days. I always do. And because of what the forecast was, neither of us brought a legitimate winter coat. In fact, our day in NYC was a balmy 54 degrees. When we pulled into the hotel at 1:30 a.m., there was just a sprinkle of rain. Well, something changed during the night, and by the time we woke up, everything was covered in several inches of thick, wet SNOW! By the time we got to the airport, flights were being cancelled, and our flight was already delayed.
I really had to just go to my happy place, and wait it all out. All flights out of JFK were being cancelled, and a flight just two gates down from ours was also cancelled. I seriously wanted to rush the door, get on the plane and get out of there before anyone thought too hard about it all. However, three hours later we were in the air. Three hours later, and two hours before Mark had a dress rehearsal for a performance that evening.
He emailed his conductor and told him what was going on. Thankfully, his conductor was completely understanding. When we hit the ground in Detroit, we couldn't get to the car fast enough so that we could get to Mark's apartment, get his school stuff, and head back into Ann Arbor. He was late for his rehearsal, but because he'd emailed and gotten full understanding (it being an audition and all), there were no problems. I waited a mere 30 minutes for him to finish, met up with Ethan, and we headed over to Zingerman's for dinner.
MEETING DENARD AND EATING DINNER
As it turns out, Denard Robinson (the former Michigan quarterback) was in town for Signing Day, and M Den had arranged for him to visit the store. Ethan had gotten the required wrist band earlier in the day, but Mark and I still needed to get ours. We got them, and then went to Zingerman's where we met up with Rebecca.
Not really thinking about the time, I suggested we visit Cupcake Station, a rather fabulous little cupcake bakery down the street. We picked up half a dozen purely delicious confections, and drove back to M Den.
By the time we got back to M Den, the line was snaked around the store. We joined the line at 6:15, and Mark's concert was at 8:00 (and just around the block). His call time was 7:30, so at 7:20, he ran around to Hill Auditorium, signed in, changed into his tux, and flew back to M Den. We were just ten people shy of meeting Denard, but Mark was feeling the time crunch. I insisted that he take his tux coat off and grab any Michigan jacket from the surrounding racks for the picture. However, it wasn't until the gay guy suggested the same thing with a subsequent "DUH!" that Mark did it.
No joke, we got up to Denard around 7:45. We threw our stuff at him to sign, and while he was doing so, we stationed ourselves for the picture, Denard looked up, and we snapped the picture! Mark tore the jacket off, grabbed his tux coat and was out the door.
Turns out, a fellow hornist was circling the block, looking for a parking place, and later told Mark that he saw a "dude running in a tux down the street." In his mind, he thought, "That can ONLY be Mark Kennedy." LOL!!
CONCERT AT HILL
This was the first time I'd heard the Symphony Band perform, and I very much enjoyed it. No stress for Mark either. Knowing that the days of seeing my kids perform are numbered, I got rather emotional watching my boy up there. Deep breaths....
TAKING A BREATH
For a solid 48 hours, I hadn't taken off my shoes. But after the concert, we headed to Ethan and Rebecca's for milk and cupcakes. It was a pure delight. Sitting quietly for a moment, talking and eating. I loved it.
ATTENDING PMEA REGIONAL CHORUS
There's no rest for the wicked. Glo had been a festival while I had been gone, and her concert was at 11 a.m. Saturday morning. She had tried in vain to get a ride home, but even John couldn't help her, seeing as he was on call. So, I hopped off the couch at Mark's at 5:30 a.m., gave him a quick kiss goodbye (that he doesn't remember), and drove straight to her concert in PA. I was late by only 15 minutes. Pretty good, I must admit.
______________________________
These are the times I already miss, and will miss more as my children grow up. This took me back to the craziness and fun of auditions with Mark. It's wonderful to be in the company of all my children again, and be reminded that they still like to have me around. It was a most glorious step back in time.
We just finished up with eight puppies. We keep them for eight weeks, and by the time I hit week 6, I'm usually starting to feel pretty stressed out and down in the dumps. It's so much unrelenting work, taking care of them 24/7. So, I planned a trip just two days after the last pup left. I was honestly hoping for something bigger to do, with friends and such, but that didn't pan out, so I settled for the next best thing: Ann Arbor!
I had originally thought that I would spend five days there, just relaxing and doing whatever with Mark's apartment as the home base. In fact, I envisioned living the life that I keep hoping will happen: living in Ann Arbor, and intertwining my life with the kids' lives. However, due to a disorganized German music festival, Mark needed to take an audition right in the middle of my vacation, and it needed to happen in New York City no less. Gah, I couldn't have asked for a better spontaneous vacation, and you better believe I made the most of it! It was honestly two short days, packed with some funny as well as amazing experiences:
MARK'S APARTMENT
Yep, this is an experience in and of itself and consequently deserves its own category.
I drove over to Ann Arbor on Wednesday morning, arriving late in the afternoon. I decided to drop my stuff off at Mark's apartment before heading into town to meet up with the kids.
Holy smokes. I didn't even get five feet in the door, before I realized that if I was going to be staying with Mark for any length of time, I would need to do a bit of cleaning first. (To Mark's credit, this is the first time I've shown up that his apartment hasn't been spotless.) I literally dropped my suitcase in the front doorway and headed into the kitchen. There were dirty dishes to load in the dishwasher, and counters to scrub. It didn't take long, and I felt like I could breathe afterwards.
I then walked into the living room, trying to avoid stepping on the pile of mail on the floor. I decided to go through it. A W-2 form for a previous tenant that I knew would need to be forwarded, and a utility bill due in just three days. I threw out all the credit card applications.
I quickly changed into my dress clothes, just trying to not look down at the counter when I used the bathroom mirror....
I was running late as it was, but I decided to find the management office for the apartment complex so I could drop off the W-2 form and pay Mark's bill. The lady wasn't the nicest, but I got it done. And as I got back in the car, John called. And I was rushing to get into Ann Arbor. And I saw a huge brown gooey smear on my forearm. All I could think in that moment was, "I have to get this off my arm, or it's going to get on my sweater." And I was holding my phone to talk to John.
At that moment, I could think of nothing else, but to just lick it off.
Which I did.
Let's think about this, and what it could have been. And what diseases I could have caught. And what I was actually putting in my mouth.
Thankfully, it turned out to be chocolate. How it got there, and where it came from, I didn't know. However, I figured I had 48 hours before the lesions and boils began. Just enough time to get Mark to NYC and back.
DINNER IN ANN ARBOR
Normally, this would be some kind of event, because it was revisiting a favorite haunt. However, Ethan wanted me to try a new place, Pieology, a pizza place much like Moe's or Chipotle. You go down the row, picking your sauces, cheese and toppings, all for a super cheap, flat rate. Little did I think it through when I agreed to do this, because it just happened to be, in Ethan's words, "across the street from M-Den." Anyone who knows Ann Arbor knows that it doesn't get more "central" than this. And more busy at 5 p.m. And more full of students. And little to no parking.
I think it was a really great pizza. I think I saw Rebecca and Baby Annie for a brief moment. I think I may have visited the restroom at least three times, trying to remove whatever remnants of the unidentifiable chocolate on my arm. But I'm not sure about any of that, because in all honesty, I was doing everything I could to get through dinner and get out the door for one reason:
ATTENDING THE TEMPLE
No joke, I have not been to the temple in months which is really hard on me spiritually. I knew that if I did nothing else, I was going to attend the temple while in Ann Arbor. Unfortunately, because of future scheduling issues that will be discussed later in this blog, Wednesday night was it for me, and there is only one session Wednesday evening in Detroit.
So now, if you think back on what you've already read, you might understand how much pressure I had felt throughout the day. I needed to leave State College in time to get to Ann Arbor (a 5.5 hour drive on a good day), stop by Mark's apartment to change and pick up dress clothes and his temple clothes for him, pay a bill, drive into downtown Ann Arbor at rush hour, wait for pizza to cook, and still make it to the temple during rush hour around Detroit.
Honestly, folks, these are the moments I live for. I couldn't have been happier. And this is why I couldn't think of a better solution to smeared brown stuff on my arm than just licking it off.
And Ethan added to my happiness by not having his renewed temple recommend in his wallet. Nope, it was left at home (a 20 minute drive out of the way), so he was making phone calls after dinner to figure out if he could just show up at the temple and figure it out then.
We hugged and kissed Rebecca quickly while we ran back to our parked cars. Cars parked at meters that couldn't be left there. However, we could leave cars at the Institute building on campus, so we all met over there, the boys hopped in my car (with dress clothing in tow), and we headed out to the temple.
Ethan didn't have any problem getting in, and we had a glorious session. I always get emotional when I see my boys sitting together in the temple. It is such a blessing to John and me that their recommends are always current, and that they are always worthy. And they are quite a sight to see together. They are so good looking, and tall, that they are a commanding presence every time, and I love to see people looking at them in awe.
I think we closed down the celestial room, because we definitely stayed in there a while. And at the end, we stood in front of one of the mirrors in the room and wished that we had snuck in our phones to take a picture (not really, but kind of really). The temple reminds us of what's really important, and at that moment, I had two of seven people there who are everything to me.
Of course, we completely forgot to take a picture at the end of it all. Ugh.
GOING BACK TO THE INSTITUTE
The drive felt so fast. I love talking to my boys. The conversation never lags.
Unfortunately, at some point while changing cars (Ethan was taking Mark's car for the next few days), Ethan hurt himself and starting yelling at Mark. I'm not sure exactly how it all happened, but it was horrific. I was actually worried that someone would call the cops on us, because it sounded like some kind of bar room brawl. It was a very sad way to end the evening, but life happens, right?
GETTING FOUR HOURS OF SLEEP
So, the next morning, Mark and I were scheduled to fly to NYC for his audition. I knew that he didn't need me there, but I so badly wanted a vacation that I asked him if I could go with him. Turns out, we were both relieved that we both wanted each other there :-) We didn't get back from the temple until after 11 p.m., and our flight was departing just seven hours later. We basically just took a four hour nap, woke back up, got in the car and made our flight.
FORGETTING MEDS
I wish this wasn't one of my travel experiences, but I feel the need to record this for posterity.
I had forgotten to take my meds the night before, mostly because I was again trying to avoid looking at Mark's bathroom counter. No cup meant I needed to go in the kitchen, and I just spaced it.
I don't believe in ten years of taking daily meds I have ever forgotten to take them.
However, when I woke up at 3:50 a.m. and was packing my stuff, there were my meds on the counter. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten to take them, so I actually counted all of the meds out to verify that I still had what I had packed. And I did. Thankfully, I wasn't showing any allergy signs yet, so I took them quickly.
Among those meds is a probiotic. My poor intestines have been so stripped by everything with all of the antibiotics that I have taken for years for my chronic sinus infections that I'm trying to get everything back to normal now that my sinuses are under control. I didn't think much of taking that probiotic along with everything else.
Fast forward to our plane ride. Maybe 30% of the seats were full, the lights were completely turned off, and everyone was sleeping. Everyone, that is, except for ME! Nope, I spent quite a bit of the plane ride in the bathroom. Ugh.
GETTING TO THE AUDITION
This was by far the "least" of all the experience we had. We flew into LaGuardia, dropped off our stuff at the nearby hotel, Mark warmed up in our hotel room for a half hour, we took the train into the city, transferred to another train, and walked seven blocks to the Manhattan School of Music. It honestly went smoother than I could have planned it.
And Mark says the audition went fine. He spoke German the entire time to the judges, and he even met a girl from Berlin who was also auditioning. The judges were super laid-back, making it a rather unusual audition experience. It's all a waiting game now. Not much more to say.
And again, I forgot to take a picture.
 |
| I'm not sure what this face is supposed to say, but when Mark posted it on FB, his former missionary companions understood it completely. |
We were on the subway for several hours over the 24 hour period. You would not believe now happy it made Mark. All kinds of memories from his mission came flooding back to him, and thankfully I was there to hear all of them :-)
LUNCH
I desperately wanted to take Mark to Shake Shack in NYC. Turns out, there was one just a mile from our hotel back in Queens, so we hopped back on the train and went there. Oh man, after dieting for a month, that hamburger tasted like GOLD! And I might have had some french fries too. I did resist ordering a shake though, planning (correctly) on drinking the dregs of Mark's shake (he can never completely finish one). And for the first time, I remembered to take a picture! Barely, seeing as we were waiting for the shuttle back to our hotel, but one nonetheless.AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
And here comes the moment that I had really been hoping for since last October. Catching a Broadway show. For some reason, I've been wanting to see several shows in New York for a while, and I was so happy to have an excuse to see one now.
I had originally given Mark five options of shows we could see, and he opted to narrow the choices down to two (Fiddler on the Roof, and An American in Paris), and leave the final decision to me. You can probably guess what I chose, based on the title of this experience :-)
After taking a nap in our hotel room, we hopped back on the hotel shuttle to the metro station (seeing our lives flash before our eyes several times), and took the train to Times Square. We did a bit of shopping, but mostly we headed to the theatre.Words cannot describe the beauty of that show. Mark told me that he's going to write about it, so I'm hoping that his artistic mind will be able to capture the wonder more accurately than I can. However, we both left that theatre wide-eyed, dreamy and artistically fulfilled. It was a stunning performance from all levels: the story, the music, the dancing, the set design. I honestly questioned the fairness of God giving a select few people so much talent and beauty. However, Bernie Sanders isn't god, so some have more than others I guess, and the rest of us just have to deal with that. I told Mark afterwards that I wish we could have hit "pause" throughout the performance and rewound everything a couple of seconds to watch it again. There was just so much to see, and I didn't have ten eyes to see it all.
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| The main character, Lise, was the principal ballerina for the NYC ballet. No big deal. |
We found out afterwards that the show has won numerous Tony awards and was nominated for even more. No surprise there.
M&M WORLD AND HARD ROCK CAFE
Johannah had reminded me that the best M&Ms can be bought at the Times Square M&M World, and she was right. I bought several pounds of different colors and flavors, and it didn't take long for me to start eating straight out of my bag.
Too, it was 10:30 at night, and we hadn't had dinner. We've been to the Times Square Hard Rock Cafe so many times before that I thought Mark wouldn't want to go there. However, his face lit up when I mentioned it, so we crossed the street and headed in. Turns out, that late at night there's no wait, so we were seated immediately, and served soon after. Just appetizers and drinks, but it tasted like manna from heaven. Plus, for the first time in all of our Hard Rock history, the videos that were played were all songs that we know and like. Our very gay waiter was happily singing and dancing to all of them too which made the night even better. I don't think either of us wanted the night to end. However, there was a train to catch, sleep to sleep and a plane leaving early in the morning.We hopped back on the train, thinking it would be the same short 25 minute ride back to the hotel. In fact, we needed to be back by midnight to catch the shuttle before it closed down for the night. We even tried to take a selfie, but I can't make the face Mark wants me to make. Instead I start smiling:
TWO HOURS LATER.....
Turns out, the trains don't run quite as efficiently at night. They stop a lot due to "train traffic". Our minds were boggled, knowing that not as many trains were running, and yet it seemed to be rush hour on the tracks. Finally, Mark made the suggestion that we just get out and take a taxi the rest of the way. A brilliant suggestion.
A ten minute taxi ride later, we were back at our hotel, quibbling with our taxi driver over the tip. Both Mark and I were giving him a lecture about tipping and how it supposed to be based on performance and what a person feels he wants to give, but our taxi driver didn't support that ideal. He felt that he got to demand his tip. I was happy to see that Mark has adopted my Southern way of speaking my mind, and didn't back down from the argument. In the end, I was pulling nickels out of my wallet to tip him, and he basically threw us out of the cab.
So much for a solid eight hours of sleep. It was more of a nap again, and we were at the airport at 8 a.m.
A FREAK SNOWSTORM
I had been checking the weather for days. I always do. And because of what the forecast was, neither of us brought a legitimate winter coat. In fact, our day in NYC was a balmy 54 degrees. When we pulled into the hotel at 1:30 a.m., there was just a sprinkle of rain. Well, something changed during the night, and by the time we woke up, everything was covered in several inches of thick, wet SNOW! By the time we got to the airport, flights were being cancelled, and our flight was already delayed.
I really had to just go to my happy place, and wait it all out. All flights out of JFK were being cancelled, and a flight just two gates down from ours was also cancelled. I seriously wanted to rush the door, get on the plane and get out of there before anyone thought too hard about it all. However, three hours later we were in the air. Three hours later, and two hours before Mark had a dress rehearsal for a performance that evening.
He emailed his conductor and told him what was going on. Thankfully, his conductor was completely understanding. When we hit the ground in Detroit, we couldn't get to the car fast enough so that we could get to Mark's apartment, get his school stuff, and head back into Ann Arbor. He was late for his rehearsal, but because he'd emailed and gotten full understanding (it being an audition and all), there were no problems. I waited a mere 30 minutes for him to finish, met up with Ethan, and we headed over to Zingerman's for dinner.
MEETING DENARD AND EATING DINNER
As it turns out, Denard Robinson (the former Michigan quarterback) was in town for Signing Day, and M Den had arranged for him to visit the store. Ethan had gotten the required wrist band earlier in the day, but Mark and I still needed to get ours. We got them, and then went to Zingerman's where we met up with Rebecca.
Not really thinking about the time, I suggested we visit Cupcake Station, a rather fabulous little cupcake bakery down the street. We picked up half a dozen purely delicious confections, and drove back to M Den.
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| Baby was SO good in line. And Ethan was even better, keeping her happy. |
No joke, we got up to Denard around 7:45. We threw our stuff at him to sign, and while he was doing so, we stationed ourselves for the picture, Denard looked up, and we snapped the picture! Mark tore the jacket off, grabbed his tux coat and was out the door.
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| That's right, folks. That's us and Denard Robinson! |
CONCERT AT HILL
This was the first time I'd heard the Symphony Band perform, and I very much enjoyed it. No stress for Mark either. Knowing that the days of seeing my kids perform are numbered, I got rather emotional watching my boy up there. Deep breaths....TAKING A BREATH
For a solid 48 hours, I hadn't taken off my shoes. But after the concert, we headed to Ethan and Rebecca's for milk and cupcakes. It was a pure delight. Sitting quietly for a moment, talking and eating. I loved it.
ATTENDING PMEA REGIONAL CHORUS
There's no rest for the wicked. Glo had been a festival while I had been gone, and her concert was at 11 a.m. Saturday morning. She had tried in vain to get a ride home, but even John couldn't help her, seeing as he was on call. So, I hopped off the couch at Mark's at 5:30 a.m., gave him a quick kiss goodbye (that he doesn't remember), and drove straight to her concert in PA. I was late by only 15 minutes. Pretty good, I must admit.
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These are the times I already miss, and will miss more as my children grow up. This took me back to the craziness and fun of auditions with Mark. It's wonderful to be in the company of all my children again, and be reminded that they still like to have me around. It was a most glorious step back in time.
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