Something Wicked This Way Comes

A few weeks ago I made an exciting discovery - a Mormon family with two little boys staying just two doors down from us! This could only mean two things (besides the fact that divine intervention is alive and well) - 1. sanity-saving playdates during the day and 2. babysitting swaps! And boy, have we lived it up! We are about to have our fourth and final date tomorrow, as they have the nerve to ditch our perfect arrangement in favor of California so the husband can "keep his job", or something equally lame. (Excuses, excuses). I have tried to bribe them with all manner of enticing things to stay here, but so far my offers of turn-down service and chocolate mints on their pillows have been rejected. Rats.

So we have been having a blast - four dates in two weeks! I feel so... refreshed. And relaxed. And slightly giddy.

What better way to take advantage of date night in NYC than to see a Broadway show? So we did. We saw "Gypsy" (with the original Tony-award winning cast, starring the unhinged but amazing Patti LuPone) and "The Phantom of the Opera" (because, believe it or not, I had never actually seen it). Both shows were wonderful. And there was just something so fun about hopping on the subway to go on a "regular" date and ending up on Broadway. What can I say, we're spoiled rotten? (And our bank account is suspiciously low...)

For our third date we thought we would try putting our names in the "Wicked" lottery, and then when that inevitably failed, we figured we could go out to dinner somewhere totally kid-unfriendly. We had already tried the lottery once (the convenience of on-call babysitters...) but failed, of course. We truly didn't expect to get tickets, especially with the number of people hoping for a seat. But hey, once David won some stickers in a drawing, and once I won the opportunity to clean the port-a-potties at girls camp, so I guess we can't say we've never won anything.

Well, I guess we've now lost our complaining rights forever. David's was the last name called! So we found ourselves on the second row of the Gershwin Theater watching "Wicked" that night. It was awesome, of course. If only we could see it again tomorrow.

I suppose lightning could strike twice, right?