After having brunch at Westway Diner - where I had to "return" a moldy(!) bialy (YUCK!), I headed over to the New Amsterdam to pick up the tickets I had arranged for my parents and their friends, and then I headed back to the church to wait for them to come out. And I waited... And waited...
I peeked in around 12:30 - when the Mass was supposed to end - and they had just started the Communion line... Hmm.. Well, they'll be out in about 10-15 minutes and we're only about 5 minute walk - if that - from the theatre. About 12:45, they came out - they left before the final blessing, and we all started to head to the theatre.
On the way to the theatre, my Dad informed me that my Mom had brought her coffee in with her from Burger King, and ended up spilling it in the pews. Oops... Well... Maybe that's why they cut out of Mass early.

I gave them their tickets, they headed to the front, and I went in through the stage door. Once I got inside, I located my parents - who happened to be in very good seats - ninth row, center, on the aisle - and the show began. I saw them briefly at intermission, and then as the BC/EFA speeches (it's that time of year again already!) were being made after the Bows, they started to come up the aisle. "We're going to go ahead and take the 4:00 bus back to Atlantic City." What?!?!?!
It turns out, that some other friends who were in AC this weekend are high-rollers, and there was some super deluxe meal being held for the casino's "special guests" tonight. And my parents wanted to make it back there in time for that special meal, that special
free meal. Originally, they were thinking they would have dinner in the City, and then head back on the 8:00 bus. Then at lunch today, they said they were going to take the 5:00 bus so that they could do a little bit of sight-seeing after the show. Well... Once the BC/EFA speeches were done, I ushered them out the 41st Street doors, and toward Port Authority.
And that was basically how I spent the "day" with my parents.
Of course, when I had talked to them last week, they kept asking me why I hadn't come back down to Virginia to visit anyone... And why I don't call them on a regular basis... Etc., etc., etc... But my parents did love the show - my Dad told me how much he really liked it, and that was just after the first act! And my Mom ended up slipping me a wad of bills to cover the cost of the tickets, as well as some "extra money" - since they had noticed I had lost some weight, and were worried that I didn't have enough money to buy food!
