WICKEDness is Happiness!!

Several months ago I bought tickets (5th row center) to the musical Wicked. I was so excited to see it! I tucked them away in a safe spot. And then forgot about them. Well, sort of...

Every year my daily planner pages end in June so I start a new one on July 1st. I forgot to record the show dates in the new calender. But the date that stuck in my memory was July 27th (today). So last Thursday morning (the 23rd) I pulled out the tickets just to look at them. And to my horror they said Wednesday, July 22nd!!! No! NO! It can't be! I think I was hyperventilating and I was so sick I wanted to throw up.

A couple of hours (and friends' condolence phone calls) later I had finally calmed down. So I got up the courage to call Mark. I told him something horrible had happened this morning. Of course, he thought I'd wrecked the car or had something that really was horrible happen. When I finally spilled the news he began to laugh. I mean he wasn't thrilled that I'd just thrown away $400, but he was so relieved that that was all it was. He had no interest in going to the show anyway.

Next, I called the Box Office and begged. So sorry... nothing they could do. And the final shows were all sold out. BUT, they said, I could come down 3 hours early and put my name in a ticket lottery. Ten names would be drawn for 2 tickets each. I asked how many people show up for that? Usually a couple hundred. Pretty bad odds, I figured. And standing out in the heat... unbearable. And I'm sure the seats are in the nose-bleed section. So I decided to wait for the next time Wicked came to the valley again which would probably not be for another 2 or 3 years... Bummer...

And then a little miracle happened thanks to my wonderful friend Sharon. She heard about my story and she had also desparately wanted to see Wicked. So she and her husband went down to Gammage on Friday afternoon to put their names in for the lottery. But no luck. They went again on Saturday morning. No luck again. They went again on Saturday afternoon. And... drum roll please... her name was the 2nd one drawn!! She called to tell me and I was so happy for her and her husband. (Really, I was!) And then she said "You're coming with me 'cuz my husband doesn't want to go! The monkeys scared him when he watched The Wizard of OZ as a kid and he has really never liked it since! I have a ticket for YOU!!!"

So her husband chauffered us there... and to our amazement and delight... our seats were guess where?? FRONT ROW (yes, ROW 1) and Center!!! The best seats in the house!!! We could see every detail of their costumes... and every expression of their eyes and faces... and it seemed they were looking right at us! It was phenomenal!!!

And then last night Mark came into the office while I was emailing our missionary Josh. He said he had something I needed to see. "But I'm kinda busy." "Yes, but you really need to come and see this" he insisted. So I reluntantly followed him to the family room where BYU TV was on and low and behold the Women's Choir was performing the songs from Wicked!!

And I relived the magic all over again!