Running out of Gas

I suppose it will come as no great surprise to any frequent fliers out there that our plane was delayed in San Francisco due to "weather" which put our return to Eugene into the wee hours of Saturday morning -- but we were surprised to have our flight routed the looooong way round from JFK to SFO to avoid major turbulence. When the pilot announced that we would be flying over Amarillo, Texas to reach California, the flight attendant's smiles all turned upside down. What was a five hour flight heading East became an eight hour flight coming back. Oiy! That's a long time in a small space...

We had intended to take the day off to get some rest, but continuing our love of theater we headed out immediately for Cirque de la Symphonie with Daniel Meyer as the Guest Conductor. This should have been easy, especially compared to taking the subway back to Brooklyn at midnight on the weekend schedule after seeing Billy Elliot at the Imperial Theater on Broadway.

We even laughed about it at the time. Standing there in the frenetic, craziness that is Times Square, trying to figure out the best way to get back to our night's lodging, we commented on the ease of attending events at the Hult Center. We can easily walk home or if it's cold and too late at night, friends drop us off.

But not this time. As four of us climbed the steps to watch acrobatics set to music, we realized that two of the tickets were missing. Our friend immediately grabbed his date's hand and jumped back into the car to race home and look for them. Meanwhile, Groom and I headed for the box office to see if there was any chance of ticket replacements. Yes! For a $4.00 surcharge they would reissue the misplaced ones.

Thankfully our friend answered his cell phone and immediately turned the car around. As it didn't take long, we figured they'd be back within minutes, enough time to enjoy the show.

Tick tock.  

Finally, they popped back into the center for the performing arts at the last minute. Guess what? They had run out of gas and had to walk! 

After two hours of listening to the Eugene Symphony play well known songs from Carmen, Swan Lake and Masquerade while a juggler juggled, a girl hoola-hooped and a bare-chested man in tight, white pants flew over the audience by hanging onto two white curtainy lengths of white fabric, we headed over to a local restaurant for dinner.

There, Triple AAA was called and they sent a man to put gas in the tank while we ate. All's well that ends well.

The running out of gas metaphor is incredibly accurate and reflective. We had an adventure, were entertained, ate good food, ran out of gas and managed to get back home unscathed. So, while it might seem odd that we need a vacation from our vacations, it really is time to refuel. I'm off to catch some much needed Zzzzzz's.