They’ve both finished their second year of teaching and as I pulled up to their house off 99th Street, I suppose I wasn’t surprised. See Andy and Cristen are about the best students you could have in class and they are also good human beings (a combination that doesn’t always go together). Andy and Cristen are the people you are happy to say “Yes, I’ve had them in class.” It’s not often that you come across good people in life and it’s pretty gratifying as a teacher knowing that these same people are now in the same profession as you are (not that I had any significant impact on their decision).

Andy greeted me at the door and I got to see the puppy that Cristen had been writing about on her Facebook page. We ate at a local restaurant (Bentley’s I think) and we talked mostly about teaching stuff. I think I got a little self-involved (I really do try and check myself when I’m asked a question about pedagogy) and Andy eventually reminded me that the play started at 7 p.m. (he had checked the time on the website, I had assumed that it would begin at 8 p.m.). Let’s just skip the part about speed limits on I-465 and just say that we were going with the flow of traffic in the left lane (for the most part). We pulled into the park parking lot and made our way down to the amphitheater.

The play had already begun. Bummer.

But we found a place on the right side among the other camping-chaired community people in this park in Greenwood, Indiana. It took me a few moments to get into the story– mostly because of the adrenaline rush of being late–but eventually I caught the line of the story. Whereas the seating in Harrisburg was almost a half-bowl much like smaller theaters, this venue was a bit more flat and the stage and the action felt further away. The actors were miked and it was a good thing for two reasons. First of all, there were many of the older generation and the sound would simply just die out after it would be spoken. And second, a man was mowing the property directly behind the pavilion for the first two acts of the play. It made me smile, really. (Oh, I should also add that the approach path for the local airport was directly above us).  All of which is standard for outdoor theater and most people just accept it as a given. I still find it sort of comical.

If you remember this play at all, Love’s Labours Lost is the one where men decide to make a bet and women sort of play around with them. At one point, disguises go on (veils and switching of accessories for the women, beards and Russian accents for the men) and promises are made and during the reveal, honest dedication and pledges of love are set. Unfortunately, and this provokes a “what were you guys thinking?” scream from me, all four couples decide to suspend their togetherness for twelve months and a day…perhaps as a cooling off period, or perhaps just to make sure that the couples really do mean business. Either way, this production stops the play at this point (they trimmed the play down to 90 minutes for their audience) and we’re left in disbelief.

This was yet another opening night performance (three in a row) and it was incredibly clean for this type of theater. In its in second year, the Greenwood Shakespeare Festival is looking to reach its audience with the magic of Shakespeare’s work and this night they hit it just right. All of the cast are people from the community with various levels of experience (from first performance to over forty years of experience).  I sometimes get a bit uncomfortable when there’s children or teenagers on the stage. Maybe it’s the many AFV (America’s Funniest Videos) shows I’ve logged in on Sunday nights or perhaps it’s the kids programs at schools or churches. But not here, not at this production in Greenwood, Indiana. And so I was able to sit back in my chair and enjoy this story where people misunderstand one another and reach a bit beyond their limits and we don’t exactly get the wedding at the end and live happily ever after.

I was a bit put off at first by the abrupt ending when Berowne says “That’s too long for our play” and it’s over. But really, I kind of liked how this production was packaged and edited for this audience. The weight of suspended love still hangs in the air and still I want to knock their heads together, all four couples, and tell them that they don’t have to wait a year and a day. Go grab some coffee and make the wedding plans. But I didn’t write the story and it’s a Shakespearean comedy and the Greenwood Shakespeare Festival did the play justice.

With the play over and people folding their camping chairs, I said good-bye to Andy and Cristen and went over to shake somebody’s hand in the production. I got to talk to one of the cast members and then to one of the co-founders (Andrea Lott) and we talked about my project and Shakespeare plays and audiences. Andrea mentioned about how she wasn’t sure this audience would be ready for a history play, that this audience perhaps didn’t have the background of Shakespeare to get the references. No matter how sophisticated this Greenwood audience was, this was a wonderful production by a community company that does not receive any outside funds from grants. Which brings me to a little aside: when you see a free production of a Shakespearean play or any of the arts, you should feel it your duty (and obligation) to give at least the price of a ticket to the local cinema movie-plex. If you are concerned about tax-deductions, then most not-for-profit theatre companies have a way for you to give and still get that tax-deduction.

And so I gave my donation in the can at the back table and headed toward my car, then to Starbucks and some gas and then on I-65 to Louisville for some sleep. Fortunately, my Garmin 265 got me there on time.

Day 1: From Goshen, IN to Girad, OH

309 miles (price of gas: $2.75 (IN), $2.55 (OH)).

We weren’t really stressed about leaving right at 3 p.m., but that was the agreed upon time that I suggested to Lori that I’d like to leave. I also added that I would pack the car and help the boys get packed and make the sandwiches for dinner and other planning stuff.

I got a call on my trip to Ace Hardware for a fuse. It was Lori.

“Now no one is going to panic, but my last child canceled and I’ll be home at 1:20 instead of 2:20,” she said.

“Oh,” I said.

“Now, there’s no rush or anything and no one is going to panic…it’ll be okay.”

I got defensive.

“You know that I was planning on you being home at a certain time and that not all of the stuff that I have on my list is done just yet,” I said.

“No one is panicking and we’ll just leave whenever we need to leave,” she replied.

And I think I repeated my last sentence and then in an irritated tone let her know that I had stuff to do.

Pause.

“Okay, bye,” she said.

I had this whole conversation while paying for the fuse by debit card and I always told myself that I wasn’t going to be one of those people who have to be talking on the phone when really you should be saying “Hello” to the clerk and being human with the person in front of you. Instead, I finished the conversation, wanting to apologize to the Ace Hardware clerk, but he was gone helping someone else.

Oh, and I had the 8-year-old with me too.

“Come on, Colin,” I said as I grabbed his hand.

“Was that Mom?”

“Yes Colin, that was your Mother. She just informed me that she was coming home an hour earlier than she had promised,” I said.

“So she’s coming home earlier?” he asked, obviously missing the sarcasm in my last statement.

“Yes, she’ll be home in an hour and twenty minutes and we’ve got a lot of stuff to do,” I said.

“Like what?” he asked.

“Let’s eat first, then we’ll take it from there,” I said and we got in the car and drove home.

We did get something to eat and the boys did their chores and I got my list done and we even made the boys practice their piano lessons and we still were able to leave around 3 p.m. (That’s even with a visit from her folks).

Leaving is not a pretty event in our house and there is some incredible stress storm that brews the night before any trip we take that requires any type of packing. It seems calm the morning before, but you can feel a tension squall in the back of your head (much like the sinus headaches some people when a storm front comes rolling in). By the evening before, we are chanting some mantra about how peaceful the morning will be and serenity will save us. Then the morning comes and one thing gets said or implied and there are clenched jaws, slammed doors, children cautioned and some tense rhetoric exchanged. It really is all over the relative feature of time and sometimes we’re better and sometimes we’re just at a point where there’s no talking in the car until we break for some coffee or someone says “Sorry.”

We know it’s a silly thing and I wonder sometimes if it’s our way of acting out in reaction toward our own parents. Lori’s parents used to be 15 minutes early to which ever time that they would travel with us; my mom is time-impaired and even after having to lie to my own mother that the movie really did start in 30 minutes, we still happened to walk in during opening previews (that, after a few walks out to the car and a “oh, I forgot something”). At our wedding photos, with family, Lori’s relatives were 15 minutes early; we were waiting for the Judson clan to walk in 10 minutes late.

We think we’ve mellowed each other out in regards to time, Lori and me. We usually can agree on times and not get wigged out when the other might not be right on time. And though we both agree that eating dinner at 4:30 p.m. is really the best time to eat, we sometimes get concerned that our older son, Evan, isn’t mellowing as much as we are. He sometimes gets visibly upset with a friend says that he’ll be there at 2 p.m.; he gets a little wigged out when it’s 2:05 and we have to remind him (in an apologizing tone) that not everyone lives by the clock like we do, that it’s not a right or wrong issue–being on time–it’s just how things are.

I think I was the one who was really concerned about being on the road at 3:16 p.m. but Lori was the one with the mantra: “It’s fine, we’re not in any big rush to get to Ohio.” And so, we made a stop for gas and then headed to I-80 via CR 17 (with its annoying road construction by Six Span bridge).

Besides Colin’s ulcer sore in his mouth that kept him from eating his sandwich for dinner (the sore that apparently was not affected by the handful of gummy bears stuffed into his mouth 40 minutes earlier), we found our way to Girard, Ohio fairly easily (thanks to Google Maps). It was a Travelodge off Priceline.com (two stars) and we usually get good rooms for a good price. I wasn’t aiming high in my bid, and Lori admits that she’s been spoiled the last few times we’ve stayed in hotels. Kevin, the General Manager, did switch our rooms from a single King bed to two Queen beds and we slept as well as one can sleep in a hotel/motel room: periods of waking up and falling asleep and not ever getting used to the bedding situation. Lori got to hear a younger couple getting quite intimate with one another…as much as that intimacy can happen with walls such as those in Girard, Ohio. I think several people were quite happy for the couple and I apparently, slept through the show.