We are in Plant City Florida this lovely evening. We got into the driveway for the church we were performing at around 5:30pm. The concert was at 7:30pm. Something to note about Doc… we never get out early. We always practice more than necessary. So, we had to get all of our luggage and all that loaded into the church, and then we started practice. Dinner was supposed to be at 6:30… some things were rushed, and we were all kinda out of it from being on the bus for 9-10 hours today. It was pretty chaotic. Finally the girls went to dinner while the guys changed and by some miracle, we were ready to go on time.
It had to be our best performance yet. We were so in tune. The acoustics were fabulous, and we could hear so well. We had a lot of concentration. It went so well. Kaitlin and I got to sing Down To the River again, and it was swell.
The audience tonight was probably the most receptive we’ve seen yet for this program. Mostly older folk, since the church is in the middle of a retirement community. I loved seeing this little boy go crazy clapping his hands during Credo when the choir claps. I saw his little arms flailing out of the corner of my eye. Oh, and something hilarious, is that Doc had to stand on a podium in the second row to conduct so that we could all see him well. So we had the first 2 rows reserved so that he could do that.
So, at the beginning of the concert, Doc introduces us, and he made his way to his little podium in the second row. There was a little old woman with glasses on in the third row, right in the center. I almost lost it when I saw her go, “what!” with her hands out in front of her, staring at Doc standing so high directly in front of her.
She seemed pretty ticked. She probably thought she had it made, sitting in the middle of the closest row to the choir. Sadly, she apparently did not.
I love little bonding moments the choir has. During intermission, we had a back rub train going on. Just little things like that genuinely make me happy.
Our host family is adorable. Greg and Diane. Their house is full of African stuff, and animals and things like that. Ok, something quite funny… and yet to remain funny (hopefully)… is that Kirstie, Trina and I will be sharing a queen bed tonight. What a change from last night!
Diane is a hoot. That woman is a riot. She and Greg seem to be somewhat middle-aged. This is Diane’s second marriage, and she has a few kids and grandkids. They fill their home now, with 3 dogs and a cat. Ok, I want one of those dogs. They are just as much of a riot as their mama. You’d think they were children. She certainly treats them as such.
We all sat around in the kitchen and chatted for almost two hours tonight. Diane made this fruit dip with coconut (I was in heaven), pineapple (I was in heaven again), and cream cheese with cool whip. We ate a whole flat of strawberries with some grapes with the dip. Greg is a manager at Applebee’s, so he brought home some chips and dip and salsa that I couldn’t have (thank you gluten for ruining my life), but it was ok because I went to town on that fruit stuff.
So afterwards, I announced that I would be taking a shower so we could get the ball rolling on the 3 of us taking showers in a timely fashion. Ok, I try to be good about not getting graphic or anything, so I apologize if I say anything considered inappropriate…
I was in a towel, getting ready to get in the shower when I noticed something moving on the inside of the shower curtain. Ok, if I’d never seen a roach before, I can sincerely say I have now.
I caught my breath, and felt like I was betraying all composer of being a girl who “can handle it, thanks.” Hey, I’m always up for a guy helping me carry my luggage in the door, but I’m typically a do-it-myself type of person, unless I really need help. But this bug was massive, people. I realized that in that moment I shrunk in size, and that all space I used to occupy seemed handed to that ridiculous insect. I opened the door a crack and called Kirstie in the bathroom. Kirstie saw it, and ran and grabbed a shoe. She came back in, and I turned on the shower so maybe it would scamper out of the shower curtain so we could squash it. But then we lost it. Yes, we lost the thing. So there we are, trying to whisper and not get too scared, or screamy like idiot girls. We moved around a plant, and a few things next to the shower, and then the thing ran across the rug and we screamed like the 1st sopranos we are. Yes, I was still in my towel. Then we heard a knock at the door. I was near tears. I think between the hilarity of the whole situation, and genuinely having the heeby-jeebys. I don’t like bugs.
So the knock at the door… Diane said, “everything alright in there?” “Yeah!” we still couldn’t catch our breath from laughing and screaming… “There’s just this huge bug! We can’t find it!”
So I threw my clothes back on, and we met Diane and Greg in the kitchen, and they laughed at us, and Greg went in to kill the little demon. Diane told us horror stories of a freaking frog jumping on her while she was in the shower before.
After the death of the roach, they welcomed us to Florida.
And we took our showers.
So this has been a lovely evening as well, with some funny moments. Greg and Diane don’t have wifi, so I’ll post this blog late, as soon as I can.
St. Petersburg tomorrow! We’re going to Busch Gardens for the day, and we actually get a break from singing! Tomorrow is our break day. It is gonna be grand!
Goodnight:)
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