Let me start out by saying that I am not a big believer in getting kids the greatest thing out there, spending too much money on the “it” thing. And, trust me, the girls are not lacking. Their mom got them cell phones, a Wii and Guitar Hero for Christmas. And they’re only 11.
But, if we can make something happen without going overboard, that’s okay, right?!?!
In some weird incredible stroke of luck, we got tickets to see the show of the milennium!
We left to pick up K. and S. (the twins) and nothing fell into place in the way of timing. S has some anxiety issues (more on that at another time) and probably made a wise decision not to go. So, on our way to drop off the boy at Uncle Joey’s house, we mentioned to Aunt Dawn that is Riss wanted to go (their 13 yr old daughter, Lois’ niece). But she was 15 minutes north on the mountain snowboarding. Apparently, after she shrieked bloody murder, she raced down the mountain, jumped into her brother’s car and they met us in a deli parking lot 10 minutes later.
The traffic was absolutely horrendous. Every roadway we hit was worse than the previous. Whomever thought driving from CT to Long Island on Friday before New Years’ at rush hour wasn’t very smart. But we were on an adventure.
We told Riss and K over and over again that there was a very real possibility that we would not end up with tickets. The night before, will call had released several floor tickets an hour before the show and we were hoping and praying that it would happen for us.
We got there barely 15 minutes before the show started and the people at will call thought we were crazy to think any more tickets would have been released.
The girls were so excited now, we were starting to feel horrible. Scalpers were selling seats for $150-$250 a piece. We had less than $300 on us and we weren’t letting them go in by themselves.
Let me stop here and just say that Lois has this way about her. She attracts people. She doesn’t know why, but I do. She’s really cute, very innocent looking and is incredibly sweet and friendly the second you make eye contact with her.
She ended up talking to a mom who was trying to sell her one remaining ticket. A scary middle aged man was offering her money for it, but she offered it to Lois for free.
Lois almost didn’t take it, because it was only one ticket and it wasn’t going to solve our problem.
“Just take it,” the woman said. “Maybe it will be good karma. If you can get tickets for the kids, then you can get in too!”
We still started to feel deflated. Then, moments before the show started, a woman walked right up to us and asked if we needed tickets. She had 2 tickets on her and her daughters were already sitting in the other 2 seats. They all saw the show the night before and she had no desire to see it again. She sold them to us for FACE VALUE = $68 a piece and Riss and K almost had a collective stroke. (So we got 3 HM tickets for $136)
I was not about to shell out $50+ dollars to try and find one more ticket for myself, so I told them to get in there and I would occupy myself with something.
Well, they TOTALLY scored! The seats were in the first tier, first row! All the way home, they were jabbering about how it was the best concert ever! How they could “see the expressions on their faces”, Jonas Bros this, Miley that. OMG! They were in absolute heaven.
Lois is my witness that both promised that we don’t need to buy them a Christmas or birthday present for many, many years. Yeah, right.
As for me, I TOTALLY scored too.
When I asked a nice security guard if there were any bathrooms accessible to the outside, he said “oh, if you don’t have a ticket, you can hang in the parents’ area.”
Parents’ area?
“oh yeah. There’s a table section to hang out and there’s also a restaurant/bar too!”
Did he say bar? I perked right up.
The parents’ area was screaming my name. I parked myself in front of a huge flat screen TV set on ESPN and watched college football while living up to my weight watchers break by eating nachos and a burger (which I shared both with Lois).
Lois spent her time between hanging out with me and checking on them. It was perfect.
Well, almost perfect.
As we were splitting the not-so-good burger, I reminded Lois that Long Island had several White Castles. It was her turn to perk up.
We got out of the parking lot in a cinch because I dropped them off when we arrived and I parked the car, facing out, 8 spots from the exit. Good thinking on my part. We would have been there forEVER.
After a couple misguided attempts at using the GPS system to find a WC, we called Aunt Dawn and bribed her with some burgers if she got on the internet to find an address.
Why I felt that Fordham Ave in the Bronx was a better idea than Yonkers, I will never know. There was no drive-thru, so I had to leave them in the car while I ran in. It was definitely not my brightest move, but I stood in the WC with my best I-am-a-big-dyke-and-I-lived-in-Camden-so-don’t-mess-with-me look and we all got through it.
K had never had WC before and announced to us that they were the best burgers ever and it was the best night ever.
So, we had K home at 12:01 am, we were home with the boy and in bed by 1:45 am and Suz showed up with our charge for the day (K*den) at 8 am. But it was all worth it.
My willingness to go along with the plan and my aggressive NYer style driving down there has earned me many points with Lois. I may have a few “out of the doghouse” cards for at least a day or so.
A perfect night.
Man, am I exhausted.
It worked out. Maybe we do have great karma. We were so happy for them that it all fell into place.
However, my advice to others is definitely to not try this at home. At least make sure you have tickets when you drive 2+ hours with two tweens in the car!
