[finally for this one night // I'm about to have a fun night]

I finally saw Wicked and it was wonderful, if a bit of an adventure. The tickets were a Christmas present, bought long before we realized this was to be Our Winter of the Snows and that buying tickets in advance for a show an hour and a half away was a dicey proposition. The show was on Friday. It started to snow Thursday afternoon. My mom, sister and I spent the evening glaring out the window and frantically checking the weather report. Many of the websites we checked told us there was a 30% chance of snow that very day, to which we looked out at the snow sleeting down outside and shouted, "OH REALLY! YOU THINK? PULL THE OTHER ONE, IT HAS BELLS!" Needless to say, we were all a bit high strung that evening. However, we awoke Friday morning to rain instead of snow and we decided to risk the drive.

The show was in Greenville, SC, nearly two hours down the mountain. There was weather predicted for that evening, so we packed a change of clothes, just in case we were stranded for the night. My mother, in a vote of confidence, insisted that her winter coat be in the back of the car instead of the trunk, just in case of an accident. I contended myself with the prayer my dad taught me the first time we ventured out on icy roads, back in December: Holy Mother, full of grace/Don't let Dad smash my faces. Turns out, the worse road of the trip was the one we live on. We drove through a spectacularly beautiful forest of ice covered trees, but the interstate was clear.

We ate at a Lowcountry restaurant for dinner (verdict: YUM and also, I would like to be having more Hoppin' John & she-crab anything forever), then crossed the street to the Peace Center. The show was amazing! I've been a huge fan of the soundtrack since college, but never had the chance (or the funds) to actually see the play until now. There was a bit of a disconnect at first; I was so use to the Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel version I had trouble accepting different voices, no matter how good the performers were. I got over it after the first few songs though, and throughly enjoyed the rest of the show!

We hightailed it out of town after the show, calling my brother at home to check on the conditions of the road. (Long-Suffering Little Brother: The internet says nothing until after midnight. Can I go now? Dad: Have you actually looked outside? Me: The internet is like the ditzy blonde in Mean Girls. There's a 30% chance that it's already raining!) We made it home, safe and sound, around one in the morning, only to learn that the winter storm advisory had turned into a flood warning. WTF, weather.