$13 Salvation

My sub at work has been out of town for nearly two weeks. Normally that’s not a big deal. It means I do all the shows just like most stagehands have to do. But the week before he left was a brand new circle of hell for me.

It included a trip to the vet, major infractions committed by #5 and #3 that warranted well-thought-out responses (read: punishments), a trip  to the emergency room in an ambulance from school for #1 & dealing with the fallout from that, and an ice storm resulting in three solid inches of ice over everything, including my sloped driveway, in my town where everyone is sold out of ice melt and rock salt.

Then I got the flu.

Then I got bronchitis.

Then my sub went out of town.

Did I mention CC is in production on a new show? For the uninitiated, that means that if he does come home, he’s home for exactly six hours before he has to leave again, but more often he’s staying in the city. Yeah, like that. As #1-3 would say, FML.

I haven’t been this sick in four years, since the first summer we had the kids and I got bronchitis. Four weeks. Cough for six months. I am not making this up. That was also the time that #3, our resident drama queen and hypochondriac was complaining of a cough. I thought she was faking, or at least being dramatic. When I finally took her in to the doctor, she had pneumonia. I am not making that up, either. But that’s another post, and I digress.

Six pounds down. Five prescriptions. Two bags of cough drops. I slept every possible moment because each morning I had to get up with the kids to get them to school and each night I had to go into the city and do my show, and mostly I just wanted to die. I’m honestly not sure what they ate. Or wore.

All this led up to Saturday night, aka The Day My Sub Came Back. I took Saturday night’s show off.

I was feeling much better and decided to wait for CC to finish tech at midnight and went to see a movie. By myself. How amazingly awesome is that? I can’t adequately express it. I saw The King’s Speech on 42nd street and paid $13 for my ticket, which seemed like kind of a lot. I got a small popcorn, a bottle of water, and a bag of sour patch kids, none of which I had to share, or buy ahead of time and smuggle inside in a large handbag.

It was the first movie I’ve seen since we got the kids that did not contain a single talking animal, light saber, vampire, or wizard. By that virtue alone, I feel it should sweep the Oscars.

Seriously, a really great flick. I highly recommend it. Don’t get used to me talking about movies on here. It’s a rarity.