Oh Man

Today was pretty crazy, but it was fun. (I think.)

We started out by going to church at a large Baptist church around the corner. It wasn't very good...it was a little surprising to see the pastor dressed up in a robe. It was pretty formal.

Next we went to a UT women's basketball game. They played against UConn and lost, but it was still exciting, even for a non-basketball fan.

The real fun started, though, when we went to see Peter Pan with Cathy Rigby as the star. This was the last show in Austin, and it was very well done. I'd have to say that the scene changes were better even than Broadway, and that is saying a lot.

My dad ordered tickets to the show ahead of time, on the internet (what would we do without it?). He found some seats based on the little map that they show of the auditorium and they looked like they would be okay. You know, not too pricey, but not a bad view. Well, we arrived, and the ushers said, "Just take the elevator to the sixth floor and some people up there will show you your seats." Oh. Sixth floor??! Who goes to auditoriums six stories high?? We followed the directions/command and arrived at our destination. It was pretty spacious and we didn't see anything to complain about. Until we were shown in. We were a little late (big surprise) so all of the lights were out. There was a nice usher(ette?), though, who took my sister and I under her wing. (My dad was otherwise occupied for the time.) She gave us very careful instructions to follow her closely and to not let go of the rail, whatever happens. Okay. Again, we follow the command and are led to our seats. You know, the seating arrangement reminded me of the old cities that you might see engraven on the side of a mountain: sheer cliffs with little houses carved out of them. Going down the stairs to our seats was like taking a winding narrow staircase down a lighthouse or something. We happened to be seated on the second balcony, apparently six floors up from solid ground, with nothing but a knee high guardrail to protect us from empty theater space. Peter Pan might have been comfortable; we were not. The usherette wouldn't even take us to our actual seats because it was too dangerous; we had to wait until the house lights were up during the intermission. It was so steep and so scary.

We ended up not going to our actual seats. We thought it might be safest to stay as still as possible, not moving too much for the fear that some bigger force would make us jump the rail or push us head over heels into the great abyss. However, not everyone was as concerned about our precarious position as we were. So there was this mother there with her son. The boy was maybe five or six (he kind of reminded me of my brother). He was a typical boy, always looking for adventure. (He can't just watch the boys onstage) During the intermission, while my dad, sister, and I were safely glued to our seats, the mother let her little boy go up to the edge and stand there looking over. If she had been there with him, it might have been okay, but she stayed in her seat, not really paying close attention. By the time we noticed him, he was climbing up onto the railing, trying to do goodness knows what. My dad made some sort of exclamation, and the lady suddenly noticed how her darling was jeopardizing his life. She got him and went back to her seat, looking a little sheepish, while my dad and I were sitting there with our blood running cold. If possible, we were stiffer than before due to fear, and still soundly glued to the seat. (Heights really aren't our forte, and this was really high with no safety.) The lady wasn't very attentive during the rest of the night, and we prayed that there wouldn't be another intermission. There was supposed to be one, but it didn't happen. Later, as we were walking to our car, we saw the same woman and boy, and the boy was about to run into a street were many cars were. Is this a pattern??

I just don't understand.