Well, David and I finally utilized the gift certificate our daughter and son-inlaw gave us last Christmas for a murder mystery dinner theater. I knew we had to use the tickets before football season kicked off or I'd never get him to go. Heaven knows it would be the worst thing ever for him to record the game and watch at his leisure. He considers that a fate worse than death. Men and their football shall not be torn asunder.
The reasons why I put off using them were (1) I hate making reservations. What if, when the date comes, one of us gets sick, the car breaks down, or we experience some other disaster (like I'm not in the mood to go anywhere)? Packing gives me the shakes. I just know I'll leave something essential at home. (2) I was afraid a torrential rainstorm would choose that particular weekend to give us a month's worth of rain in two days and I don't like being out on the road in traffic in less-than-ideal conditions which leads to excuse number three... (3) I hate going anywhere near the large metropolitan city where it was being staged in good weather let alone bad. All the (mostly male) drivers seem to think the roads are part of the Indy 500 and they're all Mario Andretti or whoever the reigning king of the race car world is these days. When I sweetly suggest he slow down before my fingernails make permanent dents in the door handle, David assures me he is just keeping up with the 'flow of the traffic' and I say, 'Yeah, well tell it to the judge.' But Mother Nature smiled upon us and there was no rain.
After I secured our place at the dinner table, I booked a room in the same hotel so we wouldn't have to venture out into the big bad city at night. I studied the caveats so we wouldn't show up wearing the wrong outfits and get denied entrance. It clearly stated that anyone wearing jeans, shorts, T-shirts, or flip-flops would be banned. They lied. Business casual was a must. I overdressed thinking it was better than under. Right? Wrong again. I saw several folks in some very un-business casual-like outfits which I didn't care anything about personally but dang it, rules are rules, and I don't like being among the minority following them.
I was shocked to learn I'd have to pay a king's ransom for parking. Despite my trepidation, I ponied up a few extra dollars for the valet parking which is something I hadn't done since the fiasco in Dallas more than 30 years ago when the mall parking valet either lost my keys or took them home with him. It took over two hours to get another set. I'm still not over it but I figured our car would be safer in their parking garage. The play was delightful, and we had a nice time.