On the Monday after school was back in session, the kids all came home very excited, waving lots of colored pieces of paper at me. These were permission slips to attend the dress rehearsal of a play put on by our town's drama club on Thursday night. I was slightly hesitant for a couple of reasons; 1) I didn't know if the play was going to actually be child friendly. My friend had her children invited to a play by their teacher (he was in it) and it was totally inappropriate for their ages. 2) It didn't even start until 6:45, which is about when our kids start getting ready for bed. If it had been on a Friday night, I would have had no problem with it, but of course, Friday night was opening night!
I hemmed and hawed, and even said a little prayer. Finally, I decided that it was such a special opportunity I would go ahead and let them stay up, and if the play turned out to be inappropriate Nick could call me on his cell phone and I would go pick them up. They were so excited to get to go. It was the talk of the school the whole week, since the drama club uses the school auditorium to do their plays in. Every one had seen the set being put up and painted, and now they were actually going to see what it was all for.
A day later I realized that we had a problem. The kids had to be at the school, in their seats at 6:30, the show started at 6:45. Sarah has ballet on Thursdays and she usually doesn't get home until 6:30-35. I warned her that I would let her teacher know she HAD to let Sarah out on time that day, in the hopes that she would make it to the play. But that if for some reason she get out late, I couldn't wait for her and make the other kids miss it. She understood, but was hopeful the teacher would let her out on time. (She has a history of being very late.)
I drive Sarah and another girl to class, and her mom picks them up. I told the mom that Sarah was attending the play and would hopefully be able to leave on time. The girls were very good and told Sima that they had somewhere to be and would need to leave on time. They still left a little late, but earlier than they had been in a while. Unfortunately, it still wasn't early enough and I left without her to take the other kids up to school. I also hadn't been sure Noah was invited, since he didn't bring home a permission slip, but when we were walking out to the garage, our neighbors were also getting ready to leave. Their son is in kindergarten also, and he was definitely going to the play. So I called up to Chris to send Noah on down, he could go. He was so happy and excited.
When we got to school, I was very pleased with myself. We actually beat a few Swiss people there! But I also noticed that there was no way the play was going to start on time. They hadn't even let the kids in to find their seats. So I got back in the car, called Chris and told him to get Sarah ready, and I would bring her up to the school. I am so glad I did. Apparently, she was so crushed about missing the play, that she had gone straight into the bathroom and started crying. :( I raced her back up to school and she said that she had only missed the first minute or so, and they let her in, no problem. Hurray!
Of course, since they started late, they also got out late. I think it was at almost 9 by the time they were done. Several of the parents were all standing around outside, waiting for the kids to come out. I said to myself, "Forget that, it's freezing out here!" And walked on into the lobby. A few mothers followed me soon thereafter. :) Inside we found a literal sea of coats, boots, and hats, flung haphazardly all over the floor. Usually the kids hang up their coats right outside the individual classrooms, but of course, that wasn't possible due to the seating arrangements for the play. Realizing that they were going to be very tired the next day, and wanting to get them to bed as soon as possible, I started searching through the piles for my kids' coats. A couple parents laughed when they saw what I was attempting. Not in a mean way, more in a "good luck with that" way. It was a very large pile of coats, and it was pretty dark in the lobby. But I know my kids coats, and I am a determined kind of gal. First I found Sarah's, as she had come later than anyone else. Sophie's is pretty brightly decorated, so that one came next. Then I found Noah's and last but not least, Nick's. I had them all set aside and waiting when the kids came streaming out of the auditorium.
While we were waiting, I had heard them all break out into belly laughs several times. On the way home, they kept telling me their favorite funny parts. They really liked it, and loved that they were able to attend. Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention that they were able to attend this play for free, and were even served refreshments and given coloring books and colored pencils at the end of it. All as a good will thing from the town and the drama club. So, so, so nice.