Road Trip

I took a road trip yesterday with my mom and one of her best friends. I'm incredibly lucky because my mom and I get along so well. But honestly, all of my sibs (there are five of us) get along with her like that. We're all lucky.

My mom's friend, Patty, came with us. She's so much fun and she still calls me Dollbaby like she did when I little. Of course, in the same breath she threatens to get me good and drunk, but hey, that's part of Patty's charm.

We all drove up to the college my sister attends to see her show. Cait, and fourteen other women, did Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. Over the years, Ive read bits and pieces and I've seen snippets of it, but I've never seen it live, nor had I seen the majority of the monologues performed yesterday.

Let me just say, hats off to Alma College's Without Permission Theatre Group - you're freaking amazing. The monologues ranged from funny, to poignant to gutwrenchingly awful. There were several performances that made me want to vomit...while I was crying. There were monologues from the point of view of a lawyer turned sex worker, a woman who'd witnessed the birth of her grandchild, a woman from Afghanistan, the "comfort women" forced into service by the Japanese government during World War II, a woman who'd had a good sexual experience with a man, a woman brutalized in Kosovo during the war there, a joyful child and so many more.

There were times during the performance where I just wanted to hold my hands over my ears, or better yet, run from the room, but I'm glad I saw it. The women were all amazing, but I have to say, Cait and Lauren's performances were just jaw dropping. In addition, all of the money they raised with ticket, cookies, buttons and T-shirt sales were donated to a local women's shelter. Thank you Cait, Laurel, Lauren, Heather, Annie, Cat and the rest of the women of the Without Permission Theatre Group. You all rock.

After the show was over, we grabbed Cait and the four of us went out to supper and had a lovely time before heading back home. Unfortunately, I returned home to the Man Cold, unfinished homework and no food for lunches. Needless to say I didn't get any writing done because I had to go grocery shopping at 9:30 at night. Grrrrrrr. Oh well, I'm planning to make up for it today.