The Show Must Go On

So this weekend we had our annual themed dinner/show event. It's a big production that involves a lot of parent volunteers - and a lot of blood, sweat and tears on everyone's account.

This year - I was forced to rely on my parent support much more than I had before. In years past I could spend my nights up until the wea hours of the morning planning and organizing. Now with a 7 mo. old at home, I have to devote almost all of my home time to family.

Aside from the food and musical entertainment, we always have something of a dramatic element going as well. Last year, I tried to write the script myself - that resulted in the participating performers getting their final draft on the morning of the event. Miraculously we pulled it off - mostly due to the improvisational skills of the kids.

This year I decided to let the students handle the script... for better or worse. The girl who stepped forward to do it was someone with little or not theater experience. I was afraid to read her script. So i didn't. Really - I didn't know what was in it until I saw it play out on the day of. Kids had been telling me what she put in it - lots of pop-culture and movie references. They were afraid it was going to be way too hokey. I thought about stepping in and inserting my own script at the last minute, but then I remembered my promise to let other people handle those aspects... so for my own sanity, I just let it go.

Sure enough - it came off pretty well. Here are some of my favorite lines:

Luke Groundrunner: Excuse me miss, do you know how to get to the Kingdom of Genenova?

Girl (In squeaky voice) - Follow the yellow brick road!

********

Luke Groundrunner: I am on a quest to become a knight.

Black Knight: Regular or Jedi?

Anyway, the point is, we got through it.

Ah, I almost forgot - as part of God's on-going process of testing my will - he decided that not only should I get sick shortly before the event, but my whole family should too. So on the day before, when I normally oversee everything from equipment transportation to decorating, I was home tending to my wife and baby boy. On the day of, I myself was so sick I had to repeatedly duck into the men's room to empty whatever I had left in my stomach, which wasn't much as the day wore on. Afterwords, the parents didn't let me stay to help clean up - they didn't even let me drive myself home. One of the moms drove me home, while another drove my car. It was a good thing, too - half way home I had another dry-renching fit (into a plastic bag that we were smart enough to bring) - and I barely made it up the stairs to my porch.

Somehow - everything just magically got done without me....