As it was with us...
R & I are definitely shoe-ins for the "Mother of the Year Award". We took the kids to see Star Wars in Concert last night - in Baltimore - as in Maryland - as in 2 hours from home.
The evening started off innocently enough - get the kids from swimming and head out.
We stopped at the drive thru for a quick bite, distributed the loot and began our drive.
Within moments we were stopped on the road because of an accident up ahead. I was a little freaked out because #1 was ahead of us - enough ahead of us to be mixed up in that mess we couldn't see. I called home. Mr. was out walking Zeb and told me that #1 had not yet arrived. We hung up. 15 minutes later I called back. #1 was walking in the door. Crisis averted. Blessing #1 of the evening. All was well and we were moving at a good clip.
As we hit Route 495, the backup started... we crept along at 10mph - I think I'm being generous with that speed. Our arrival time on the GPS was clicking up towards the starting time of the concert. We did not panic.
We are moms. We can handle anything!
We even had a small potty crisis, but we managed. We just kept going. At the 495/270 split, we were blessed with moving traffic - for a short few miles. Then we were back to stop and go. Once on 95N, things opened up. The traffic gods smiled upon us and we were cruisin'.
We were going to be later than expected, so I asked if I should call the band director and have him put our tix at Will Call. R said that would probably be a good idea. I dialed.
Hi, it's Ladybug. Do you think you could put our tix at will call?
I don't have your tix. I gave them to LLB and HP and told them to put them in a safe place.
LLB has the tix?
Umm.. yup.
From the back seat we heard two gasps.
OMG, Mom... I forgot the tix in my locker.
Yeah. Mine are there, too.
I said into the phone: She forgot them in her locker. Do you think they will help us?
Gee. I dunno. Good luck.
And he clicked off.
Around here, this is what we call an "awshit moment".
R and I sighed. The kids felt awful. LLB was very close to tears.
R and I discussed the sanity of handing tickets to 9th graders - especially when we'd both been at school in his presence at a meeting the night before.
I called back. He gave us the section, rows, and seat numbers and wished us luck.
We held our collective breaths, said a few prayers, and discussed with the children re-payment of the admission price should we have to purchase more tix. They could virtually see their money flying out of their piggy banks, but they didn't complain.
R's Mr. happened to call at this point, so he was filled in on our dilemma. He said something like, "You're going to have to talk your way in. You can do it!"(Hey, we're moms - we can do anything, right?")
At one point LLB said, "Well, this way we'll have the tickets for the scrapbook." We all giggled. She had a point...
We arrived in Baltimore - time was tight... very tight.
We parked in the Sheraton garage - they were close and cheap.
We walked over to the 1st Mariner Center. We headed for the Will Call counter.
I had my band jacket and band shirt on. (This certainly helps when you are claiming to be "with the band").
I explained our plight to the agent at the window.
He told me to hang on. He headed out back.
We told the children to cross their fingers and to start praying - hard!
The man came back. He started to fill out a pass and was called away. We tried to remain calm. He returned, and finished filling out the pass. He handed it through the window and told us to enjoy the show.
We thanked him profusely and heaved a huge sigh of relief.
Yet another blessing!
We headed to our seats in the nosebleed section. Up the stairs...
R had to use the facilities, so we stopped to wait just outside the section door. While we were there, I showed my pass to one of the 1st Mariner Center Staff. She told me she'd been looking for us, that we'd been relocated, handed me 4 tix, and told me the rest of the band was there.
R came out of the bathroom and I literally shoved a ticket in her face. Her eyes lit up. "How did this happen?" I quickly explained. I'm not sure she heard or understood a word I said, but the implication was that we had real tickets!
Yes, people - another blessing in less than 5 minutes!
We flew down the stairs to our much better seats.
There are 2 doors to each section. We walked in the door to the left - amazingly it was the correct door! Our seats were right on the end. We missed exactly 30 seconds of the show.
R texted her Mr. "we're in!"
The show was amazing - the music, the lights, the screen - everything! I thoroughly enjoyed watching the conductor. He conducted the symphony and the choir. Amazing!!
The ride home was blissfully uneventful.
We decided that this was definitely an adventure for the scrapbook... I just wish we had some pictures to go with it.
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