Consider Yourself...On a Break!

And just in the nick of time too. Toward the end of the first leg almost everyone was getting crabby and needed some time alone. I had had just about enough of that freaking bus! EARLY the morning after the show in Tallahassee I flew home to Harrisburg. Mike's smiling face coming toward me in the airport was about the best thing I could have seen. The dogs went nuts when I came in the door and the cats were pretty much like stuck to me like velcro, especially Mama's boy Jeter. Mike's and my anniversary had been the week before so we took ourselves to dinner (thanks to a gift from my mom and dad) and pigged out. I was frankly tired of eating in restaurants but I'd only had an hour of sleep so I wasn't up for cooking quite yet plus there was no food in the house. Mike took a few days off from work so we could spend time together. We had a lot of "catching up" to do!

Tuesday I went to the store for provisions and we went to see that Shia LeBoeuf (sp?) movie where he's being set up to look like a terrorist (what the hell was the name of it!?). Anyway, it was good and I hadn't been to a movie in a while. Wednesday was a treat! I met Bex for lunch at a little Japanese place and we had a nice long lunch and caught up. After that I went to my chiro for a desperately needed massage and adjustment then to Starbucks and Target for some more things for the house. Mike works so many hours that there aren't many left over for shopping and chores. Thursday I started the first of about ten loads of laundry and cleaning the house. As much as I didn't miss cleaning I didn't mind doing it so much either and it made me feel better. The weekend is mostly a blur with the exception of Sunday. Unfortunately I woke up with a nasty cold Sunday morning but headed out to Mechanicsburg to see Little Theatre of Mechanicsburg's production of Jason Robert Brown's musical The Last Five Years starring Bex and another friend, Michael Zorger. They were terrific and I was so proud of the job they both did! I also ran into my friends Mandi and Maggie there so that was cool.

My second week home basically sucked with one exception: election night! I went to Becky's house where she, her husband Bob, Bryden and Mark chatted and snacked and watched the election returns with great excitement. I understand there were parties like these all over the country; a sure sign a big change was anticipated. We flipped channels (I still don't get CNN's coverage projecting someone a winner when their poll percentages showed the other guy leading) and settled on Comedy Central's awesome coverage with Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart announced Obama had won. Even now thinking about it I get teary. McCain's concession speech was classy and I appreciated his shushing the crowd when they boo'd as he clearly was not amused by it. But Obama's speech moved me to tears. Maybe it was the cold meds, maybe I was tired or maybe, just maybe, it was because I felt a sense of hope and optimism for my country that I've not had in many many years. That speech will surely go down in history as one of the great speeches given by a President of the United States. I felt like I was in a church revival and wanted to yell "Halleleujah!" whenever he said "Yes we can". Wednesday was spent finishing cleaning and doing laundry and I was horribly sick and couldn't breathe and had to head back to New York Thursday. I wanted to hit the ECC (Equity chorus call) for Wicked on Broadway but the women's call was at 10:00 a.m. and I was still sick and in terrible voice but dammit I was going to try since this is my only chance for a while. Mike drove me to Allentown to catch the bus at the crack of dawn and I headed in to NYC. It was raining and I was lugging all of my belongings with me to meet the bus Friday to start the tour again. Luckily the casting office isn't far from the Port Authority so I headed over there where my niece and her husband were running the call. The Equity list had some 300+ names on it but only 85 or so showed up and then the casting assistant typed. Typing is when they basically line you up, look at you, and decide from your appearance and sometimes resume if they even want to see you. After typing there were only 35 women left so I thought I had a great chance of being seen. NOPE! They announced they weren't seeing any non-union that day and to come to the open call on Saturday, which of course I could not. To make matters worse they were keeping girls that looked like me so I know they are trying to fill the spot I'd like to take over. SUCKED! Dejected and wet I hailed a cab out to Queens to get Michelle's keys from her and then go to her apartment. Michelle had had a pretty crappy day too so we were looking forward to hanging out and relaxing.

Finally Shelley got home and we ordered some dinner (my fave is a turkey burger from NY Style Eats in Sunnyside) and just vegged and chatted and watched TV. We headed to bed pretty early and I didn't get to color her hair for her like I usually do (I'm sorry girl!) but I was wiped and had to get up early to head to LaGuardia airport to meet the company and new bus and driver. As I write this I'm sitting in the New London, CT Holiday Inn about to take our first real trip of the second leg. It is good to see everyone again though it took me a day to get back into the swing of things. More on this tour stop in the next blog. But for now it's off to bed with me for an early bus call! I love and miss you all and am so grateful for the time I had at home with my husband and closest friends, short though it was.