The Nutcracker and the crybaby

This past Friday I did something very, very brave. I took my friend Karen up on the offer of having a girls night to see the Columbia Ballet Company in The Nutcracker. Andy wanted to go, but none of the other "Men" were interested. Andy did not want to crash girls night alone, so he was left with Stella. Before the show started, we all (men too) went to the Mellow Mushroom for dinner. Stella was her usual restaurant self...screaming loud, grabbing food, drinking water from our straws and then spitting it out - you can imagine I'm sure. After dinner, Karen, Lydia, and Parris went off to find their seats, and I was going to quickly feed Stella as much as I could so that she would go to bed for her Dad, since she will no longer take a bottle. Well, Stella ate about a quarter of an ounce - maybe. She was determined to look around and just couldn't understand the urgency I felt in making sure she was full before I was off. Andy assured me that he would just call me and come pick me up if she went crazy while I was gone, and so I had no choice but to leave her with her highly capable Father, and was off to "enjoy" the show. I walked into the concert hall, but I think I left my mind and thoughts in the car with Andy and Stella. The lady who tore the tickets quickly greeted me and informed me that I would need to head up the stairs and then go to the left to be seated in the "LATE SEATING" section. (My ticket was in the fourth row by the way. I would be nowhere near my friends on the second balcony!) This was something she probably regretted saying soon after the words left her mouth. You see, I must still be highly emotional due to the whole having a baby and everything. I began to cry, and called Andy to tell him the devastating news. This was the straw that broke the camels back. I took it as some sort of sign that I should not be out enjoying myself, but rather home snuggled tight with my Husband and Daughter. He calmed me down as usual, and told me that during intermission I could just make my way to my real seat, and he would see me later. Sure - that sounds easy enough, but now that the tears have started, they surely can't stop for at least another five minutes - right? So the nice ticket lady promptly brought her boss on over to where I was standing, and she was very sweet. Apparently crying can still get you your way these days. She told me that they could probably get me in to sit down with my friends, and that it was no problem. Well, I didn't really feel like crawling over strangers laps while trying to hide the tears streaming down my face, and that wasn't really the problem; so I told them that I was fine, and that I was really only crying because I had just left my daughter who doesn't take a bottle, and may not be able to sleep because she is so hungry, and my Husband has to try to take care of her which would be fine if she was full, but I just tried to feed her and...so on and so on. So they tried hard to tell me what a good mother I was for worrying and how they were sure I could just leave at intermission, etc. etc., and then let me make my way up the stairs with all the other "late" folks. Well, once I took my seat, and started to focus on the dancing, I felt much better. In fact I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The whole time I kept thinking, hmmm...I wonder if there is a place around here that I can sign Stella up for dance classes and that also offers adult classes, and I can learn ballet while she does. I was picturing myself as the sugarplum fairy in the 2009 or 2010 production. The best part is, when I returned to my sweet husband and child, Stella had only been awake for about a half an hour because she fell asleep during the car ride home, so Andy was able to enjoy some football time with the men, and I really had nothing to worry about all along. Thanks Karen, Lydia, Parris, and Andy for such a wonderful night!