How do we Find the Time?

Every weekend goes by so quickly that by Monday, I tend to wonder what happened to Saturday? How did it go by so quickly!?! This weekend was, by far, no exception. Thursday was opening night of Communicating Doors and it was wonderful to see the cast and crew in action. Of course, there are always a few minor issues, but these guys can pull anything off-a forgotten line, messed up tech issues...anything. The audience was tiny and much older than Friday and Saturday's audiences and I sat smack in the middle of the fifteen-person audience so I could watch the whole thing, beginning to end, from the best possible seat. I was so proud of Fi. He did an amazing job in his role as Harold.

And there are four more performances this weekend which is great. I only get to see two since I need to get back to Hilton Head to try on wedding gowns all week. I hate not being able to go to his last two plays, but I'm so proud of how wonderful he is in it!

Saturday morning, we ran the Extreme Off Track Four Mile Fun Race: Liz, Beth and I. D came and his cast mate Ben did, as well. Lance and Emily were there, too, and, overall, we had a blast. It was tough. I dressed up as an escaped prisoner. When we got there, there were dozens of people milling around and it was no warmer than 35-degrees. Everyone gathered around this bonfire until the race began. It started out with all of us jumping small hurdles, then running down a grassy hill then back up it, then down again and into the woods where we ran through creeks and leapt into crevices. Eventually, we hit this deep crevice where we bottlenecked and ended up having to wade through a two and a half foot puddle of water/mud then climb up out of it using a rope! I was wet all the way up to my belly button. Do you know how difficult it is to run when your shoes are covered in mud? It felt like we suddenly had five-pound weights on our feet. Then more mud and creeks and out of the woods, through more obstacles and up more hills. We even got past the gorilla who, it turns out, ended up being our friend Ben who disappeared early on in our escapades at the run. (Thanks for being such a great sport, Ben!) Up to that point, I was so proud of myself for not getting hurt...that is, until the very last few hurdles. I leapt over one and my foot got caught. Needless to say, I came crashing down on my knee and leg and my entire right leg has been throbbing ever since. Somehow, I managed to pull myself back up and finish the race, though the pain was so excruciating I couldn't run up the last hill, but was happy to roll back down it to the finish line.

Fi snapped this photo of us after the race. Note the mud all over our clothes. And during the race, Fi stood out in the cold with this sign he made:He is the most supportive man alive. It was so nice to see this when we rounded the last corner and headed for the finish line. He didn't run the race because we didn't want him getting hurt before the performance that night, which he easily might have. But he definitely cheered and encouraged, which was almost as good as him running the race beside me!

* Little note from Fi here. The whole scene was a total party after the race, complete with a live band, dance/mosh pit, the bonfire Neesh mentioned, and Red Bull girls. I can't remember a more rockin' midmorning nonalcoholic shindig!

The heat from the bonfire did some cool things to the mud covered athletes. Ben snapped this video, linked here from Youtube.

After the race, we all had pancakes from IHOP and then I crashed when we got home. I adore the multi-grain and nut pancakes there. They are so darn tasty! I ate my two and half of Beth's two.

After Saturday night's performance, we hosted a mini-cast party at our house. From left to right: Philip (Richard's partner), Ben, Alana, Richard (sitting-the director), Jim, Fi and Judy. Monica was busting out some karaoke on the floor by this point and Lynn and her fiance Karen and Karen's son Joseph and his gf Heather were all there, too. We had a great time playing Apples to Apples and having drinks and snacks and Madlibs. They really are a great group and I'll be sad when the play is over.

Sunday I stayed home so my leg could recover and D had a matinee performance with pics afterwards. Overall, it was a fantastic and busy weekend. I forgot to mention that last Sunday, we started decorating for Christmas. The house is a mixture of Christmas and Thanksgiving right now: Thanksmas, as Fi called it. We didn't put up garlands or lights or anything...yet...but we did decorate my small tree and hung some stockings and put out candles. Here is a pic of our first dually-decorated Christmas tree! Although, now it has ornaments on it. At first, I suggested we mesh our boxes of ornaments and Fi thought it might be better to keep them separate. As a joke, I said: "Yeah, you're right. This way if we get divorced or something we won't have to divide them back up. It'll save us the trouble." He didn't like that and said so, but the next day at school (I sat on his knee briefly and we topped the chair over), after we recovered from the fall he looked at me and said, "I want to go home and mix up our ornaments." It was cute.

For those of you who don't know how madly in love we are, the divorce joke is really that. A complete joke. There's no way that's in store for us and our future. People ask us all the time how we find the time to do everything...they comment that seeing us is good for their own hopefulness in finding the right one or that they even watch us with a sense of awe and wonderment. My mom says she's never seen two people so happy and that being around us just makes her happier, too. It's a wonderful thing and we are truly blessed. I can't say enough about how proud and lucky I feel to have found this perfect future husband. I hope everyone is as happy as we are.

Special thanks to Megan, Beth, Lance, Emily, Claire and Tom, Aaron and Darcy, Stephanie, Amanda and Matt for coming out to support D in his play. You guys are so awesome and make all our endeavors even more fun than they would have been without you. And also, to the amazing cast and crew of CEC's Communicating Doors for embracing me and Fi with open arms. You guys have been incredible and I hope we know you long after the closing curtain.