Making up for lost time

Since the boys were born, our night life has taken a real nose dive. We used to go to concerts and shows all the time: Lyle Lovett, Mary Chapin-Carpenter, and Mel Tormé, Cats, Phantom and the like. That all ended abruptly when the boys came along.

Times, they are changing. Now that the boys are older, we're able to get out a little more. I think we've seen four movies this year, which is an eight year record! We will also have seen three good shows in the span of only one month. The first two, I've written about: Anything Goes at the Olney and The Canterbury Tales at the Kennedy Center. Both were brilliant!

Tonight it's Rent at the Warner Theatre. This was supposed to be a surprise for Becky's birthday, but honestly, how to you surprise someone by driving 60 miles to get downtown in fancy clothes. "Uh, honey, can you put on your best dress? No reason. Just... can you do it? Oh, and we need to leave by 4:00 for dinner... really, I heard traffic was bad in Leesburg." Doesn't really work.

I kept it a surprise for about a month, which is pretty good for me. I had to let her know about it once she started asking me to go see The Canterbury Tales. I felt like I needed to say, "Sure, we can go there, but maybe you should know what I have planned for two days later...."

So, we're being a little indulgent this month. That's fine. We don't often spend much money, and, this current glut aside, it's been like five years since we've been to a show in DC (Agamemnon and His Daughters at the Arena Stage).

I figure, we'll get these three shows out of our system, and then it'll be fifteen more years till we see anything else!