OKLAHOMA!!

First and foremost, congratulations to the cast of FACE's OKLAHOMA! You all were wonderful and I can't wait to see it again tonight! I am so proud of Robert, everytime he gets on stage, he is a little more comfortable with it. Last night, you could just tell, he was having fun! He had 5 other friends in the production from Newton: Drew Parker, who played a great Ado Annie, Nick Matson, who also did an awesome job as Will Parker, Taryn Mahaffey, who played Ellen, and was featured in some of the songs; Jared Britton, who I believe was named Ike in the program, and Richard Brooks, who had a name and I don't have my program in here. It really probably didn't matter though. Robert came home and told us he had the part of JOE. Last night, in the program, his name was FRED, and when he had lines with Curly, his name was TOM. He didn't know about the program, they just knew the conflict betwenn Joe and Tom, so he has been named "Toe".

I, of course, knew it would be an adventure getting there on time, and I was bound and determined to make it. Our banquet was supposed to start at 6:00, in reality, we got started about 6:05, then we were supposed to start the program at 6:30, that happened about 25 till 7--yes, I was getting a little worried. I actually started my part of the program at 6:50. I had a speech all written out, and as I was saying it, I was thinking I had to hurry, which threw me off so I ad libbed a little, which actually made it LONGER! I had my students come up, receive their certificates, take a picture, and I was out the door; my watch said 6:56 as I shut the car door and started the engine.

My van's owner's manual says that a few times during the "breaking in" period, you are supposed to accelerate quickly (to the limits of the law) to help get everything to adjust in the engine. The van does 90mph without even thinking about it. Okay, all those dear friends of mine who are State Troopers, Newton Police, Jasper County Deputies--you didn't hear any of that, and I HONESTLY don't make it a habit anymore but I wasn't going to be late! As I was driving, I was getting my dress pulled up around my neck, getting my shoes off, and getting ready for the quick change. I pulled over to the side of the road, pulled my capris on my legs, put my sweater over my head, pulled my dress up through my sweater, slipped my shoes on and I was on my way, I may have even given Levi Ashcraft (in the Air Force), who can dress in like, 15 seconds, a run for his money. I had a trucker go by and honk, I know he didn't see much, if anything, because if he really had, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have honked.

Anyway, I walked in the door, saw Andrew, asked if I had time to visit the restroom, he said sure. Got out of there, got to our seats, sat down, the lights dimmed, the music started and all was well!

I hope I don't have too many more of those in my life. As I was running into the building, I thought "one more thing I learned from band, how to change clothes sitting in a seat, and nobody (honestly) seeing a thing". I had done that a few times with a steering wheel in front of me before. the last time I did, I was probably still in my 20's, in fact, I was working two jobs and changing uniforms, but I was just a little happy with myself that I could still pull it off.