Too tired

Had a very lovely weekend... went up to River Falls after work on friday to see Maddie and friends. It was Alumni night for the theater department so the tickets to the show were free and there was a small reception.

Puck is so busy with The King and I and he had to bartend so he stayed home and I trekked up there alone... I had thought I would have to stop, but I plowed ahead the whole four hours straight. My knee was a little stiff, but all in all it was a pleasant trip. I listened to Jane Smiley's At Paradise's Gate. It lasted pretty much the whole trip exactly. It was an ok book and good for the ride, but I don't think I would recommend it heartily and it will not be listened to again by me.

anyhow I bought Maddie some flowers and her dad got her a paint brush and wrote an appropriately sappy note... He is a very sentimental guy and gets a little maudlin at play opening time.

I headed down to the Greenroom to wait for Maddie. Had my copy of Plato and a Platypus walk into a bar, understanding Philosophy through jokes with me to read while I waited. I was not too certain what kind of reception an ancient alum would receive, but the kids were cool.

I asked for Maddie and they said she wasn't there. I identified myself as Maddie's mom and they all warmed up nicely. "Oh we love Maddie, are you the one responsible for her fabulous fashion sense?" "I am in her acting class and I always try to guess who she is that day"

It felt good to know that she was part of the crowd. I flopped down into the sofa and proceeded to read my book. The kids ignored me quite nicely and carried on with their normal business. It felt like home.

Maddie and her friend Matt showed up after about a half hour and I drove Maddie back to her room to unload all the crap I had brought down for her. Some anime movies I had found at Goodwil;, a bag of wooden beads, and a bag of porcelain insulators that looked cool and like they would make a good mobile. She already has started a collection of found objects so that part of her has not changed a bit.

I also brought up her tv, dvd player and vcr so she had to get that all set up. last but not least I had put together a giant bag of emergency snacks.. mostly healthy and those that weren't were bite sized packages (snickers and peanut m&ms) There were granola bars, craisens, raisens, peanuts, sunflower seeds, and a couple four-packs of Bawls... a high caffeine soda that comes in a pretty bumpy blue glass bottle and they do not sell up in RF.

Sounds like her new roommate is a much better fit even if she does go home on the weekends.

Maddie had to go get ready for the play ... she ran the follow spot..so I went up to the reception a little early. I was waiting for my old friends, also alumni, and they didn't show up till just before the house opened. It was so wonderful to see them. Vicki and Bill are probably our best friends, but Neil and Ellen I have not seen in 18 years. We had a wonderful reunion. They are the third couple that met in the theater department and are still married from our group.

Neil and Ellen run a small community theater in Osceola called The Barn and they work with Vicki quite a bit. I would kill to be up there working with them and they expressed much the same about Puck and I. Ellen is writing a play for Vicki and me and her called empty nesters... She is pretty talented and I hope I still have a memory when she gets it done.

Vicki is directing Plaid Tidings in New Richmond and I was able to help her solve some properties problems. I also brought up a whip for her.

The play was ok... not great and I was disappointed that Maddie had not made the cast, well sort of, None of the dancers were any better than her. The lead was only OK and they did a very poor job of costuming the poor girl. This was supposed to be a Texas Whorehouse in the 70's and I sure would have put her in some kind of dress rather than black jersey slacks. I would have painted her fingernails red and given her some big-ass hair instead of the long locks pulled back from the temple that she was wearing... heck she looked younger than most of her girls and she was supposed to have been a young woman when Kennedy was inaugurated. Oh well.

the boys looked good and had some really great dance numbers. Maddie did a fine job on spotlight too.

After the show I went back to Vicki and Bills. Neil and Ellen came back too and Neil rode with me. As I got into the car my scarf caught in the door and so it would not close. The dang thing was going beep beep beep and I could not get the dang door open. Neil is not terribly healthy. He contracted Lymes disease almost 30 years ago when nobody really knew much about it. He was diagnosed way too late and it destroyed his liver. He is already 5 months past a predicted death and I was so worried about him exerting himself not to mention the fact that we were laughing our asses off at the situation. He finally hip checked the door and the beeping stopped... I was still not certain I was ever going to get out of that dang car. Too fat to climb out the window and too crippled to crawl over the stick and across to the other door.

We talked and laughed all the way to Vicki's Turns out we have the same philosophies about theater. It was good to hear it. Finally we got to the house and tried the door one more time. Thank heavens it opened. We were giggling all the way in.

We sat and talked for another 3 hours out on the porch. It was wonderful.

Next day I went back to River Falls and spent the day with Maddie. We sat around the dorm for a while then drove around town and I showed her where we used to live and she showed me where they shot the zombie movie. We went out to our old house that she spent the first three years of her life in. The road was supposedly closed and only open to through traffic, but I decided to chance it. Sure enough they were pretty much done with the road so we could just skirt the signs a little. Then we drove to Hudson and went to a great antique shop. She found some scarab earrings and a very cute little velvet hat that matched her coat. I bought a 101 dalmatians tie for Puck and a little egg cup with bunnies on it for my friend Jean.

We had lunch at Dick's in Hudson, a place that we usually stop in at and where Maddie learned to play (well sort of) pool as a baby

we talked and laughed and had a wonderful relaxing visit. I drove her back to school after we stopped and bought a few provisions for her. Dropped her back there and went back to Vicki and Bills. Had another lovely visit with them and left the next morning.

All in all it was so lovely I would leave here in a heartbeat! I miss them all so much. I miss talking with people like that. People that think like me, that watch movies and read books. Ah well. some day maybe


The trip home was long and arduous. I was so tired and got sleepy on the drive. Not sure what the problem was... Not looking forward to getting home I guess.

Today was exhausting at work and I am glad it is over.