I Had a Mid-life Crisis and Brought the Kids!

[luddite lady]

In what has now become a tradition at sc.net, here is my serialized tale of mayhem culminating with an evening at Madison Square Garden.

At 6:00 a.m. on July 24th my family woke up to the sound of its matriarch, me, screaming, "I won! Oh my gosh! I won!" I had just opened an e-mail from Derek Power. All my bottled up frustration related to the MSG ticketing fiasco dissipated as the reality of the situation sunk in. I was getting a primo seat to the show courtesy of Stewart Copeland. With a week to go before departure, I now had a clear mind to prepare full force for my multi-concert family road trip.
Later that morning I was driving to the mall with my daughters to stock up on green T shirts. Seriously. As I was going through an intersection, my car was t-boned. The driver of the other vehicle somehow hadn't noticed that his light was red. My light was definitely green. I'm a Nutter. I know green. Fortunately, nobody was hurt, but my brave little Echo, my brood's only vehicle and veteran of so many mad-cap excursions, was toast. I was days away from embarking on a week-long, 1800 km odyssey and I was sans auto. "Breath," I told myself, "breath."
The rest of the day was a whirl wind of tow trucks, police reports, insurance companies and car rental agencies. By late afternoon, I had procured a temporary set of wheels and got my eldest daughter to her scheduled job interview on time. After only a few minutes, a triumphant Sporterella returned to me in the parking lot. She had landed her first ever job. She was to be a part-time cashier in a new supermarket.
"And you'll be happy to know," she said with agrin, "that the mandatory training session is on August 1st. We'll still have no problem getting to our first concert in Saratoga on August 2nd."
No problem, except that the Saratoga show, for which I had bought the whole family tickets, was on August 1st. And the drive from Toronto to Saratoga Springs is seven and a half hours without slow downs, stops or border crossings.
"Breath," I told myself, "breath."

[English-lion]

>I'm a Nutter. I know green.


Cool I love to read these posts

Too bad about your car

[policerule]

[quote="luddite lady"]
My light was definitely green. I'm a Nutter. I know green. [quote]

Did they write that in the police report? We can all vouch for your skills, Rosemary.


I'm glad there is another story in the mix... keep it comin'!

[smudge]

I'm slightly disappointed that we aren't getting this in French first.....

[luddite lady]

[quote="smudge"]I'm slightly disappointed that we aren't getting this in French first.....[/quote]

Hey! School doesn't start until tomorrow. My brain ain't doin' French today.

[IndyGirl]

Sorry to hear about your car accident, LL. Looking forward to the next part of the story.

[DirtyMartini]

LL, Sportarella is the daughter who came to Buffalo/JB--1 or 2 (I forget which)? I want to make sure I've got my kids straight.

BTW, saw this the other day and thought of you:
http://www.snorgtees.com/muycaliente-p-520.html

[policerule]

Nice shirt.

I think his french teacher should be fired though.

[luddite lady]

[quote="DirtyMartini"]LL, Sportarella is the daughter who came to Buffalo/JB--1 or 2 (I forget which)? I want to make sure I've got my kids straight.

BTW, saw this the other day and thought of you:
http://www.snorgtees.com/muycaliente-p-520.html[/quote]

Re T shirt: snort

Re daughters: Thanks for trying to keep my kids straight. I gave up trying a while ago. Sporterella is indeed the Buffalo/JB2 gal. Dancerina is the younger, taller one that you met briefly at Fat Annie's. It's easy to confuse them as they look a fair bit alike. I still get a chuckle when I think of the expression on your face when you first saw Dancerina. It was saying, "Shit! This kids grown three inches in two days!"

[shyvixen]

Talk about getting things started with a bang! I'm glad no one was hurt in the accident.

[quote="luddite lady"]
I'm a Nutter. I know green.[/quote]

I think this should be your sig line.

[luddite lady]

Part 2

It seems that I can't attend a couple of Police concerts without the involvement of overnight Grey Hounds and major Catholicism. Some of you may remember that I had to take the night bus home from the Ottawa show because my employer, a Catholic school, was expecting me to attend a special Mass the next morning. Then I squeezed in a Confirmation practice the following day before heading out to the Buffalo gig. It was all a little too much "ceremony", even for me. My second round of Police concerts was shaping up to be more of the same.
Sporterella and I hammered out a deal in which she would forego the concert on August 1st and bus it down to Saratoga on her own the morning of the 2nd. That would allow her to meet up with the rest of the family on time to get to that evening's Avril Lavigne/Jonas Brothers concert. I had already purchased four tickets to that show to thank my kids for letting me drag them around New York State following The Police.
Homebase for those two days was going to be a motel in Schenectady, the only reasonable accommodation within an hour of Saratoga Springs. Damn you, Saratoga racing season!
When I had intially outlined my travel agenda to my father, his first remark had been, "Oooh, Schenectady! That's very close to the National Shrine of American Martyrs! Are you going to fit a visit there into your plans?"
"Ermmmm...no."
The three things you need to know about my dad is that he lives with me, he is an 86 year-old force of Nature and he is uber-Catholic. After growing up in the Depression, serving in World War II and raising seven children in his own personal Baby Boom, he's not going to let a trifle like old age get in his way. Think of a combination of Andy Summers and the Pope and you'll get a pretty good idea of my dad. He is very quiet about his faith except when around fellow believers. Around me, he delights in being particularly obnoxious about it. That's why the shrine comment was no surprise. Nor was his next remark: "Did you know August 1st is the Feast Day of Saint Alphonus?"
"Ermmmm...no."
Within thirty minutes of learning about Sporterella's bus plans, my dad had worked out his own arrangements with my daughter. He would accompany her on the overnight bus to Schenectady. He would then take a shower and a brief nap at my motel and be all set for a day trip to the shrine. I'd be his chauffeur as my father had graciously and wisely given up driving some years ago. How could I nix my dad's pilgrimage plans? He's mighty headstrong once he's got an idea and, to quote EQ, I'm pretty sure I'd go to hell if I did.
I took Sporterella aside to get her honest 16 year-old take on the situation. I prepared my ears for high pitched whining. To my surprise, she was really okay with it.
"The overnight bus stuff is weird," she said, "But hanging out with Grandpa is kind of cool. He's good company." <Cue "Twilight Zone" music.>
So the agenda for the first leg of my mini-tour was now concert-pilgrimage-concert. Wooo hoooo! But what would I do with Sporterella's spare Police ticket?

[Maud138]

Please do continue...

[conroy]

I think we're in for another great story with lots of cliffhangers!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="luddite lady"]Re daughters: Thanks for trying to keep my kids straight. I gave up trying a while ago. Sporterella is indeed the Buffalo/JB2 gal. Dancerina is the younger, taller one that you met briefly at Fat Annie's. It's easy to confuse them as they look a fair bit alike. I still get a chuckle when I think of the expression on your face when you first saw Dancerina. It was saying, "Shit! This kids grown three inches in two days!"[/quote]

Indeed. I was muy confused for a few seconds. And when I saw them together on the 7th, I had forgotten that the taller one is the younger one -- I hope I didn't just call them all Leroy.

I'm afraid I haven't really spent any time with Dancerina, but I can attest that Sportarella rocks.

And that their given names are, in fact, Dancerina and Sportarella.

[policerule]

[quote] After growing up in the Depression, serving in World War II and raising seven children in his own personal Baby Boom, he's not going to let a trifle like old age get in his way.[quote]


Love it.



[quote="DirtyMartini"]
And that their given names are, in fact, Dancerina and Sportarella.[/quote]



I'm waaayy curious to know how you came up with these names, LL.