A place to lay my weary head...

I know, I know. It's been forever! My humble apologies. Life has completely dragged me around by the ear like a mischievous child. So, I'm going to update and it will probably not be nearly as amusing as it should be. In fact, it may be downright boring. But, I promised that I would catch up and I always try to keep my promises.

First things first; the play went off without a hitch. Caris did us all quite proud, and I imagine that the Bard would have been quite proud as well. She brought the fair Hermia to life. What made it even more wonderful is that she got to play opposite her best friend, Taryn. These two, who have known each other since they were three, have always aspired to do theater together. And so they have. Yet they have always had to split the lead roles. This time, it seems the parts of the "small of stature" Hermia, and the "tall of stature" Helena, were written just for them. As such, they got to be in the play TOGETHER, and to add sugar to the sweetness, they played best friends. How perfectly fitting. Everything seemed to go off without a hitch, right down to set strike and the cast party afterward. Turned out that nearly 50 kids showed up and we ended up having to kick them out at 1:30 am just so that Charlie and I could get some sleep. Still, when we woke on Sunday morning, there were a few of Caris' friends sleeping on the living room floor and couches. All in all, I'd say it was a smashing success. Especially when Caris hugged us both and told us we were the best parents in the world.

Today we celebrated Caris' 17th birthday by driving up to Malibu and having lunch at Gladstone's. It was a "Girl's Day"; Averie, Caris, and myself. Averie was kind enough to let us use her gift certificate that she received as part of her "consolation prize package" from the Ellen Degeneres show. This caused a bit of a stir amongst the waitstaff as they all wanted to know why Ellen's name was on the gift certificate. So Averie ended up telling them the story of her appearances last year. It was kinda nice to get the red carpet treatment. We had the best time together and giggled a lot. Perfect stress relief from the wild couple of weeks we've had.

While we were at lunch, Charlie called Caris and surprized her by telling her that she was now an insured driver and she was now able to drive solo. This was quite possibly the best present she could have received. As I type this, my baby girl is out driving and visiting friends, happy as happy can be. Yeah, there's worry. But that comes with the territory.

I think a well deserved night's rest is in order. Sleep sweet.