a day date with myself.

I never go to "things" by myself.
Sure, I'll go shopping by myself ( I actually prefer to shop alone.)
I'll run errands and stuff by myself.
But I never go eat somewhere alone.
Never go see a movie without someone else.
Never just head to the park or the beach with just myself.
Part of it is because of my anxiety...
But the main reason is that I never want to be "that person."
You know who I'm talking about.
"That person" is the guy sitting by himself at Chili's, eating a burger and reading the paper.
It's that old woman sitting in the salon, getting a manicure, sipping her coffee...alone.

It's not that there's anything wrong with that.
I just always feel bad for those people.
And I never wanted people to look at me with the sympathy that I always feel for "that person."

A couple months ago, I saw that a local theater was having a production of The Wizard of Oz. It's been one of my favorite shows/movies forever, and I've been interested in plays and musicals since I was little. So I asked Ty if we could go, and he bought tickets.

Unfortunately, the show was in the middle of a workday, at 11am.
Ty had said he'd call off work to come with me, but I told him not to bother...that I'd find someone to go with me.
But then I forgot about it...and didn't ask anyone.
And then the night before the show, I realized that people would be working, and that it was kind of late notice.
I tried to get a hold of a friend last minute, but she was out of town.
So I decided, "No big deal. I'll go by myself....like a date. A day date. You know, a day date with myself!"

So yesterday, I got all gussied up (which means I showered and actually put on some clothes that I'd wear to work, and not just a tshirt and shorts with holes in them.)
I plugged the theater's address into my phone for directions, grabbed my ticket, and headed out for my date.
I got a prime time parking spot (didn't have to pay OR parallel park!) and headed inside at 10:45 for the 11:00 show.

The auditorium was filled with exactly THREE kinds of people.

Kids under the age of 7.

Folks from the local retirement homes.

And me.

It was interesting.

Anyway, I checked my watch at 11:00 thinking, "Ok, gonna start any minute here." 

But it didn't.

Huge groups from local day cares and summer camps kept pouring in the place.

At 11:25, after 40 MINUTES of sitting (with no one to talk to, mind you) the show finally started.

To say that I was unimpressed would be an understatement.

This production was put on by the IUSB theater department, with college kids whom I'd assume are majoring in theater as the actors.

They were NOT GOOD!

I could hardly hear them, and they didn't seem to know how to act at all.

I was also disappointed, because the script deviated quite a bit from a normal rendition of The Wizard of Oz. There was no music. The show moved WAY to quickly, and there were characters in it that I had never heard of before...and I consider myself to be quite the Wizard of Oz expert.

I will say however, that the actual Wizard was one of the best I've ever seen. I thought it was very neat and creative. (I even snuck a picture...a big "no no" during performances.)

It was a regular person's body with a huge head that moved and spoke, and had eyes that glowed green. Pretty cool.

Unfortunately, that was the only part I found enjoyable.

I was slightly relieved when I realized that the performance was going so fast, there would be no need for an intermission.

The whole show lasted 65 minutes.

I'm glad I went by myself. 

I would have felt bad if Ty had taken the day off work.

And I conquered my fear of going to a "thing" alone.

Not that I'm going to start taking myself on dates all the time (that's what I have a husband for!) but now I know that I can...if circumstances call for it.

On the way home, I treated myself to an ice cream and then dropped myself off at home.

No kissing though...because I don't kiss until the 5th date :)

xoxo, wife.