1222 christmas musical

SBCC was putting on a “Christmas Musical”, sort of a cross between the popular “High School Musical” series and the story of Christmas. It was performed by members of SBCC’s Youth Ministries, which cover both the junior high school and high school age groups.

There were four scheduled performances, but a fifth was added, due to increased demand. The fifth one was during the dress rehearsal on Sunday, December 21st.

I had tickets to the 8pm performance tonight and talked Ching into joining me. She came by and picked me up. She got there early, so we went to The Local Place for dinner beforehand.

On the way, the subject changed to music. She mentioned that today’s youth don’t know who Madonna is. I commented that Madonna is two years older than I am. Her response? She said, “But Madonna looks good!” I don’t think she knew why I was laughing.

Before the show started, some of the cast members and advisors were sitting on the stage. Ching said, “He looks older than high school,” and pointed. I told her that it was Garrick, and he was one of the advisors. He’s also a parent. She commented that he looks too young to be a parent. I laughed and she asked me to explain what was so funny.

About five years ago, SBCC had an overnight campout and fishing derby for the kids. One night, we were getting the campfire ready so that the kids could roast marshmallows. I was watching the fire, so that the kids would not play with it until it was ready. After about an hour, I got thirsty, so I asked Garrick to watch the fire so I could get a bottle of water. He said he would, so I went over to where the ice chests were.

As I was getting the water, one of the mothers came up and said, “I thought you were watching the fire. There should be an adult supervising things.”

I told her that I just came over for some water and Garrick was keeping an eye on it.

The mother looked at me and repeated, “Like I said, there should be an adult supervising things.” Suddenly, some leaves were thrown into the fire and it flared up, so I excused myself and returned to it to keep things under control. The leaf thrower? Garrick.

The performance was good, especially the choreography of the group dance numbers. Afterwards, I commented to an SBCC friend that I remember when a lot of them were little kids. It’s great (and surprising) to see how they’ve grown and developed. And it reminds me that I’ve been going to SBCC for many years now. It also reminds me of how old I am.

When the show was over, I made my way to the men’s room, but there was a short wait for the stall that my wheelchair could get into. When I was in the stall, I heard someone come into the restroom.

“Jim? Are you in here?” a voice said. It was Eddy.

“Yes, I’m here,” I answered.

“Ching wanted me to come and see if you needed help,” he said.

I responded that everything was okay and that he can tell Ching not to worry. She had done this before (see the post on October 19). I emerged a short time later. If I had taken any longer, she probably would have called 9-1-1.

We had some hot chocolate and pastries before leaving. I ran into Judy and Steve just as Judy was handing a bag to Steve. She said, “Here’s your Christmas present. Keep it upright so it doesn’t spill.”

He looked at me and said, “What’s she giving me? Gravy?”

Ching dropped me off and made a dash for home. She has a fear of driving at night during a rainstorm after a close call several years ago. She didn’t want to take the chance, even though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was so clear, I could even see the stars.