Night out

Patty, Sue, and Evelyn picked me up at 5:30 and we headed out to an Italian place for dinner before the show. These gals are Italian-American Catholics from the Bronx. They are hilarious. Sue must be first generation as she often says a word in Italian as she's remembering the English for it. They reminisced about roller skates and skating skirts and a rink they all went to in their old neighborhood. They laughed as they shared stories of "discipline" and how they'd met their husbands. They chuckled at the story of how I met Brandon and the pizza incident, but I know it didn't hold a candle. We met another three at the restaurant and the group proceeded to torture the poor waitress. Service wasn't fast enough, separate checks for all, you get the drift. It was one of those nights where you slip a couple extra bucks on the table as you slink out.

Although we had gone to dinner plenty early, we still got to the theater a minute late and clunked up to our balcony seats while the orchestra was playing. The production was pretty good, some outstanding singing, some not so hot. Unfortunately the seats were hard and the family sitting right in front of us consisted of a tall, broad young man with big hair, his excruciatingly fidgety older sister, her two adolescent daughters (best behaved of the group), her sleeping husband, and another young man. Every one of these that were awake leaned forward for most of the show, effectively obscuring the view for those behind. The fidgety woman alternated between obscuring the view and simply distracting those behind her with the nonstop movement. They had additional family including her parents in another row and, at every opportunity, she asked them if they could see by miming. This mime involved pointed to her own forehead (third eye?) and then the stage. The theater has cushions for each seat, but people had taken two, and since we were late, we had none. This led Evelyn to exclaim on the ride home that her "ass" was killing her. Did I mention how fun these gals are? Next date is Tuesday!