01/28/2003 Entry: "I Need A Drink; Where's The Bar?"

I found myself at a children's musical at an elementary school on Saturday. I know I put my parents through plenty of these sorts of things—band concerts, choir performances, speech contests, plays, the dreaded variety show. They hauled keyboards in small cars, sat in too many folding chairs and ate more bad spaghetti dinners and pancake breakfasts for fundraisers than is probably allowed by the Geneva Convention. So it's probably a small disappointment to them that, since I turned out gay and childless, I'm not going to reap all that I sowed, revenge-wise.

It may be of some consolation for them to note, then, that I left feeling distinctly old. And I was told that the meatballs were pretty good, but of course, I didn't have any.

The Boyfriend stood up and off to the side with his video camera as the music began, saying, "Well, I have to go play Dad now." I think he only sat down for about 5 minutes of the performance, and it took a while afterwards to get that one eye to stop squinting. There I was, looking though the program trying to figure out which numbers "our" kid (our friends' son, the Best 10-Year-Old in the World) was going to be in, and checking off the listings in the program as they finished, like Sarah Vowell's father at her recital. I skipped the silent auction, but bought a couple of keys to try their "Treasure Chest" fundraiser and, of course, didn't win.

But there was wine there. I don't remember wine at the events when I was a kid (though why would I?) And "our" kid was great; not only did he had a lot of lines, but he can sing pretty well, too.

The best part? We figure in six or eight years, when we're at their place and meeting his first serious girlfriend, that's when we get our revenge, just like my parents got theirs:

We'll show them the tape.

Replies: 3 comments

"children's musical" link not working

Posted by bj @ 01/28/2003 04:36 PM PST

Whoops. Thanks, BJ. I'd lost a slash there.

Posted by Casey @ 01/28/2003 05:29 PM PST

You didn't mention whether there was that smell of testosterone and cheap perfume that really takes you back...so I guess there wasn't.

Posted by Huntington @ 01/29/2003 10:58 AM PST