Dinner and a show

Twice a year, as a family we go to dinner and a show. Well, more accurately, Mr. P, the one in college and I go to dinner at a local spot we love, then go watch the one in high school act in a show. Last night was Wilder's "Our Town". When the kid told us what the Fall production was going to be, I google'd it, and to be quite honest, I thought...blah. The play has won all kinds of awards, and usually, that means I am going to hate it. If you don't recall...I am not very cultured. Me and the kid even had this conversation:

Me: Am I going to like the play?
Kid: Yes
Me: Because it's a good play, or because you are in it?
Kid: sigh. me.

But I did like it. It helped that my kid was excellent, as usual. But it was a good play, with a message I needed to hear, right when I needed to hear it. At the end, the point was, when we are alive we need to take 5 freaking minutes and look around and appreciate who we are, who we have in our lives, and what is going on around us. I needed that. I tend to wish time away to get to an "easier" point...but really, how much easier can my life get? I let myself get so twisted up in the drama my mother creates that I have taken time away from my kids, from Mr. P, the rest of the family, and that is just not fair, to them, or to me. I hope I am done with that.

But back to play...this was our last high school production...which seems surreal. Over the course of high school we have seen Oklahoma!, Arsenic and Old Lace, Wizard of Oz and Our Town. I would have probably never chosen to see any of them on my own (other than Wizard of Oz), and all of them were really, really good plays. I guess maybe the drama teacher knows more than I do about play selection. Bahh.

Our kid in college turns 19 today! We made sure she got good dinner last night, a rent check, cupboard full of groceries, some Chinese takeout for lunch, and a little bit of spending money. I know for many, this would seem like a regular thing, not really a birthday present...but she really wanted to be able to put herself through college, so she could feel free to pursue whatever she wanted, and we really would have no say. That is why all that was a "gift"...that way it is still all her.

Now to finish off the post, and to start the weekend on the right foot, I am going to take a few minutes and do what Wilder would want me to do.

Mom: When I was 10 I found this 13 layer cake in a cookbook that I thought looked so good. For the next 3 years you made it for me for my birthday, and I know it had to have taken forever...it was so good. Then you invented sprinkles in Angel Food cake, I swear you deserved the patent on "confetti cake." Thank you.

Dad: Right after I got married, Mr. P was sent to the desert for training, and I came home for the time he was gone. I was pregnant and oh, so pathetic missing him. You packed us all up, and took us to the Holiday Inn with the big waterfall pool that I had always wanted to go to. Thanks.

CollegeKid:

HighSchoolKid:

Sister:

Mr. P:

I actually started this post last night, immediately thought of a "fond" memory for each of my parents, then there was just so so many things I wanted to share about the kids, Mr. P and my sister. I thought I would sleep on it, and then have a decisive memory that I wanted to share for each of them...and you know what? I don't.

My husband, my sister, and my kids have been my constants. Always. Every birthday, every holiday, every "event"...monumental or miniscule. And that, is pretty great, so thanks, Mr. Wilder...I took the time to look at what I had, and I know better today than yesterday how lucky I am.