TheBanyanTree: My Birthday

[Laura]

I had a terrific birthday Saturday!
Mom & Dad had given us tickets to see Celtic Woman: A New Journey, and the 
concert was at 8:00 last night.
I was up about 11:30, but Larry slept until nearly 3:00, so we really didn´t have much 
time to do anything. That´s ok - the sleeping late and vegging around the house were 
part of the plan. {PRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT=:-)"}
We did finally decide we probably ought to start getting ready about 5:30. I wasn´t in 
any big huge hurry - I´ve made it to downtown Louisville from our driveway in an 
hour, easy. So I took my time getting ready, but Larry finally came to the bathroom 
door and asked if I was ok. I said yes, and he asked if I realized it was AFTER 6:00. I 
hadn´t realized it, and finished up what I was doing. We gathered the boys up and got 
them in the car with their stuff so they could go spend the night at a friend´s house.
Larry was already antsy, worried that we wouldn´t be able to get there in time to find 
parking and get to the theatre on time. I wasn´t worried at all, like I said, I´ve made it 
in an hour, easy. What I hadn´t figured into the equation, and Larry had, was the 
weather and the time of day. I made it in an hour at midmorning, on a beautiful clear 
spring day, with no traffic. Last night we were making our way at rush hour (even 
though it was Saturday) through driving rain, in Keenland traffic. Little old men and 
women driving 62 miles an hour in the left lane, who would rather be damned than 
move over and let faster traffic through. So it took, not an hour, but an hour and 
forty-five minutes to get downtown. We were certain we wouldn´t make it in time. 
And we still had to find a place to park.
We passed a couple of parking lots, but weren´t in the correct lanes. Larry decided to 
go one block down from the theatre after seeing the "garage full" signs in front of 
both theatre parking garages. We turned right onto 5th street, and darned if the whole 
street wasn´t lined on both sides with EMPTY metered spaces! And the meters said 
we only had to pay between 7am and 6pm except on Sundays when all day was free. 
Larry pumped a dollar or two into the machine anyway - just in case - and we power 
walked our way over to the theatre, with minutes to spare.
Never having been in the Louisville Palace, we had no idea what to expect. It was 
amazing. The web page says it´s "Spanish Baroque". I just know it´s terminal eye 
candy. You could go blind trying to see everything there is to see on the walls and 
ceilings. I won´t try to describe it, just go look at the web page.
Because we´d never been there, we had no idea where our seats were, either. They 
said "pit" on them, but I was having trouble believing we were actually going to be 
sitting in the orchestra pit. I was wrong. We were second row center, down in the pit! 
So close that every time one of the girls flipped their skirts we got a flash of knickers. 
Not that it interested me, but the males in the first two rows were all grinning 
stupidly. ;-) 
We were so close to the performers, I was joking with the lady next to me that we 
were all going to get spit on. We didn´t. These women were amazing. It was obvious 
they knew the show so well they didn´t even have to think about it. They opened their 
mouths and the right song came out. They moved their feet and the right steps 
happened. And the voices... well, the voices were... I don´t have the words to 
describe them. "Angelic" seems trite. "Perfect" is misleading. "Delightful" is 
denegrating. They were so much more than that. I suppose you´ll just have to try and 
catch them in concert yourself to find out what I mean. Thanks, Mom and Dad - it 
was a PERFECT birthday present!
Afterwards, we were hungry, not having eaten since 3:30 that afternoon, but because 
it was so late (after 11:00 when we finally got back to the car and found the highway) 
there was not much choice for dinner. We ended up eating at Micky D´s. We were so 
hungry we didn´t even care. And we knew there was birthday pie waiting for us at 
home. (Larry bought me a Baskin Robbins´ Turtle Pie instead of a birthday cake. He 
knows I prefer ice cream to cake.)
All in all it was a wonderful, wonderful birthday!


-- 
Wolfie
wolfljsh at gmail.com
http://wolfsinger.wordpress.com/