We've known for awhile that the tradition is to chow down at a local diner after opening night. The diner knows the cast and crew is coming, and they let us have their 'party room.' But what no one figured on, was how LONG The Sound of Music really is. By the time we greeted the family and friends who came to watch and the kids got their costumes off and hung up it was pushing quarter of eleven. This isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, late for the average teen, but Hannah was starting to get that delirious look in her eye, the maniacal laugh that accompanies it, so I knew phase two of "Operation Meltdown" was following closely behind.
"Can we go to the cast party?" Ruthie asked me. I wanted to say no. I really did. I wanted to go to bed, get them into bed. Joshua might have been able to hang with the Big Dogs, but the girls were going to make us suffer the next day. So I did my usual cop-out.
"I don't know. Go ask your father," I said.
She walked over to Jeremy, made her eyes bigger and more round, and said in her practiced sweet feminine voice, "Daaaaaaaddy? Can we go to the cast party?"
"It's late." He said, "And we need to get you to bed."
On command her eyes filled with water. Her little lip quivered. She wiped a tear away. He looked at me. I looked at him. And I knew I was hopeless. "Com'mon Daddy. It's not every year they'll get to be part of a high school musical."
Jeremy sighed and said, "O.K."
We got to the diner, only to find out they had one waitress on duty. Apparently, the owner thought we weren't going to show up. Because the musical ran so late, we got to the diner way past the time we were expected, so he sent the other gal home. Which meant it took a very...long...time...to get our food. Jeremy and I hung out with the other parents while the kids took over the other half of the restaurant. I told Josh, Ruth, and Hannah they could have anything they wanted. Hannah wandered over to my table and put her head on my shoulder. Her face had lost most of it's color, her eyes were bloodshot and weary. I felt bad. "Mama, I don't want to eat anything."
"Are you sure? You don't want anything? Not even a pancake?" I asked.
"Pancake?" Hannah's head jerked up from my shoulder, her face perked up. "Yeah, sure. I'll have a pancake," she said skipping back to her booth.
Finally the food started showing up at our quadrant, but the waitress forgot two of us at our table. By the time we ate, and paid, it was well after 1 am. Joshua finally reached his breaking point and said, "Mama, Daddy? Are we going home yet?" Ruth, still jazzed from the performance and getting to hang out with her 'friends' danced the whole way to the car singing "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Daddy! Thank you! Daddy! Thank youuuuuuuuu!!!"
I'm glad we went, even though I'm bleary eyed this morning. We made fond memories last night. Memories, I hope, will last them a life time.
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