My 40th birthday ended up being really great. Seth had a little brunch for me. Seth had to work for a little bit, so me and Juli and Mom went to the Fashion District to pick out some fabric for some dresses she wants to make--with a lot of help from Mom. Seth met us and we went to Hill Country, this Texas BBQ place in the west 20s. The food was okay but the best part was they had my favorite soda--the Texas classic--Big Red. Apparently, this restaurant is the only place in NYC where you can get it (or so they claim).
Seth and I then put them in a cab so we could go see "Avenue Q." I had never seen it before and our friend Ann Harada was returning to the show and another friend, Anika Larsen, was beginning her run that night, as well. It was hilarious. My first time to see it and we all went out afterward for food and drink, including Ann's parents, who, because they live with her and her husband and 4-year-old son, she calls her butler and maid.
I rented a zip car on Tuesday so Mom, Juli, and I could go out to the burbs and get a sewing machine for Juli (for which she is paying half by doing chores around the house) and some patterns for dresses. We also got a mini gardenia "tree" for the backyard. It's mom's favorite plant and I've been having a hard time finding one that's reasonably priced, so we snatched it up and stuffed it into the car--managing not to lose one leaf or bud in the process.
Tuesday night Seth and I saw "Next to Normal." We had seen it off-Broadway last year with Alice Ripley and our friend Brian d'Arcy James, but we wanted to see it on Broadway (and the changes they made). Alice was amazing and we liked the changes they made to the book. We decided to wait afterward to say hello to Alice. Alice was on the first rfamily cruise I went on back in February of 2007. She, Seth, Paul Castree, and I had all played a late-night memorable game of "Celebrity" where Alice was in hysterics at my horrible hip-swaying imitation of Mae West. I hadn't seen her since and I wanted to say congrats. Seth has known her for years and wanted to do the same. Seth hadn't told her beforehand we would be coming so he just told the person at the backstage door we were there. She said she was in a meeting with stage management but to just wait and she'd give Alice the message. 20/30 minutes later Alice comes out and gives us a hug and chats for a little bit. There were a lot of fans waiting for her and she asked us if we'd mind waiting for her so we could catch up while she signed autographs. We said sure and waited for about 20 minutes. The fans slowly cleared out and then just as the final one was taken care of, Alice walked over to this guy standing away from the crowd and...they both just walked away!!! Didn't even turn back. Seth and I laughed so hard. We had ended up waiting for nearly an hour to have one minute with her and then she forgets us. She only has Wednesdays off, which means it was her 8th show of the week and we were sure was exhausted so we just found the whole thing hilarious. Seth emailed her when we got home telling her we were still waiting at the stage door.
Wednesday and today Mom has been in a lot of pain. She's sleeping a lot not because of any after effects of chemo or anything. It's because she has more painkillers in her than Rush Lumbaugh leaving a Florida pharmacy. She and Juli have been doing some sewing. In fact, today is such a nice day in NYC (60s and 70s) that I even set them up out in the backyard to work on the dress.
All right, I gotta pack. We leave for Seattle tomorrow and get on the ship Saturday. More from the ship!
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