Church Ladies

There's really nothing more stereo-typically accurate than two bus loads of aging Lutherans heading to the big city for an off-off-Broadway production of Church Basement Ladies.

And believe me when I say I am not mocking them because I am one of them already, in part, and I saw a glimpse of what's in store for the rest of me. In the meantime, my friend Becky and I shared a lot of quiet chuckles about it today.

First of all, I was right about people canceling in pairs. Unfortunately, I didn't think it would happen with Becky's parents, who signed us up for this trip to begin with. But her dad broke his hip yesterday and was laid up in the hospital today instead of road-tripping with us. Naturally, her mom spent the day with him -- but they both insisted we go. So we did.

Becky picked me up at 5:30 a.m. and we were in the church parking lot well before our 7 a.m. departure. So was everyone else. Good thing to know that as I get older, I'll become an early riser and get places a half hour early!

It was quite the sight when the buses arrived. Suddenly all these car doors fly open and the Gray Hairs file out like termites coming out of the wood work. And I mean that in the nicest way.

We got on the bus and were amused en route with word finds, word scrambles, a few pit stops and clever clean jokes over the bus intercom from tour guide Ray. At one point, after announcing he was on his last joke, a number of passengers mentioned they couldn't hear him. Ray asked, "Should I start over?" That got a resounding no. (Sorry, Ray. We still love ya!)

We had lunch at the Kelly Inn, which also houses the Plymouth Playhouse. Conversation around the lunch tabled ranged from a comparison of body aches and pains to curiosity about a local supper club from long ago that was now a strip club. I just kept my head down and smiled while eating our typical Scandinavian smorgasbord of chicken, corn, mashed potatoes and Jell-O. Becky and I were not aware we had become speed eaters until we glanced around after our plates were cleaned and saw we had that competition locked up. Let's just say we really savored (slowly) every bite of our carrot cake!

Our matinee production of Church Basement Ladies 2 -- A Second Helping started at 1 p.m. We didn't realize this was a sequel. Neither Becky nor I saw the first one, but we'd like to! It was a very entertaining show! I highly recommend it to my readers in Minnesota who could pop down to see it yet. A good comedic depiction of women who could have been my own mom, grandmothers, aunts or just ladies from my childhood church.

After a post-production pit stop in Hudson to eat, world-class bus driver Carl found our way home in the thick fog, and we were treated to a Reader's Digest video production on the bus TVs -- turned up way too loud (but no one else seemed to mind).

I guess I should consider it a good thing I still have my hearing and, comparatively speaking, can still hold my water pretty well.