Lesson 53: Get there by any means necessary!

I have wanted to go to the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker for YEARS! For one reason or another each year I don't go. This year I finally bought tickets for Tyler and me to go and I was PUMPED! :)

Tyler and I were scheduled to meet with a lady Saturday morning which was the day we were planning to see the matinee Nutcracker showing. The lady was supposed to show up at 11. Well... AT 11 she called to say she was not going to arrive until 11:30. That was okay we still had time. She did not show up until 12:15.... she did not leave until 1PM! The show was at 2PM... in Seattle! Getting to Seattle is at least an hour commute for us out here in cow town. We rushed out the door. Using Tyler's GPS we watched as the commute time seemed to be increasing while our time until curtain was rapidly diminishing. At one point I think there was 3o min until the ballet and 50min until we even reached Seattle. This is not taking into account horrendous Seattle parking the last weekend before Christmas. After hitting dead stop traffic, Tyler changed the route and we knocked off 15 min from the commute.

When we finally got into Seattle there were Santas EVERYWHERE! Big, small, short, tall... and lots of hoochy Santas too. Cars were slowed to a crawl as Santas not only roamed the streets but took up all the parking spots! Curses Santa! In my frustration I can remember saying something to the extent that the real Santa would not be so RUDE!

At this point the clock showed 2:05 and I was fighting back tears. I had waited so long to see this ballet and paid lots of money and the tickets stated there would be NO LATE SEATING allowed.

Eventually we got a spot in a parking garage and halled butt sprinting to the theater. I tried to imagine I was in an intense action movie where it was life or death that I get to my seat. (You know, those intense movies where they are rushing to not be late to a ballet :) )

Wonder of wonder, miracle or miracles... and a lot of tender mercies from the Lord, we got in! We were about 12 min late into the show but it was still the holiday party scene and the crazy godfather had not shown up.

It was amazing!

The sets and costumes were beautiful. And it was so much fun to see professional dancers. :) And having the live symphony there was incredible. I told Tyler that was one of the more fancy things I have done in my life and I loved it!

I would like to also give a shout out to my wonderful husband Tyler who made this day possible! His driving and "failure is not an option" attitude saved the day! :D