4 of 52: dreams really do come true sometimes.

[dream come true to finally get to see this show]

What does it say about me that I knew going into this week exactly what my highlight was going to be? Does it show my amazing ability to predict the future? Is it a little bit sad? Or perhaps a combination of both?

Whichever you think it is, I don't really care, because the simple truth is that I FINALLY GOT TO SEE WICKED.

For 10 years I have been listening to the cast recording of Wicked and dreaming of the day when I would finally get to see the show on stage. You can go ahead and call me lame, but it's the honest truth. I've loved the music since the soundtrack came out, but I always missed it whenever the tour came through Memphis. One time I missed it by 3 days. If I'm being completely honest, the thought occurred to me to change my flight back to India so that I could see the show. That's how much I wanted to see it.

So when the Orpheum announced its schedule for this year and I saw Wicked on there, I vowed to myself that if I were still in Memphis when the beginning of February rolled around, I would be there to see it. My mother agreed to go with me for the show based solely on my enthusiasm - she's not really a theatre-goer, but she's a really good sport about these things, and since I was looking for company, she volunteered.

And yesterday was the big day. We got ourselves dolled up and headed downtown for the afternoon show. I was literally on the edge of my seat throughout the entire production, partially because of enthusiasm but also mostly because the girl sitting in front of me was tall, so the only way I could see the stage was by leaning forward. Whatever, it was cool.

And the show. The show. It was amazing, incredible, magical, wonderful, fantastic, etc etc etc. Any of those crazy adjectives you can come up with, they probably apply to this show. The cast was great, the musical numbers were fantastic, the sets were awesome, and it was by far one of the best shows I've ever seen. This might give you some indication: my mother always takes a nap on Saturday afternoons, and she generally falls asleep if she sits still for too long, so I anticipated that she might nap through a good chunk of Act I, which runs for about an hour and a half. She maybe slept, on-and-off, through 10 minutes. Even she was mesmerized.

I posted the above picture of the programs on Instagram and Facebook, and I think Sarah Leer said it best in her comment: "It's like you hear the cast recording, know all the words, and then walk in and get blown away by the magic."

Yes, that, exactly. So if you're in Memphis, or close enough to drive in, definitely, definitely go see this show. It's probably close to being sold out, but if you can find tickets, it is absolutely, totally, no doubt about it worth it. You can purchase tickets through the Orpheum website or on Ticketmaster.

other highlights included: nomadic matt's awesome two-day workshop on stress-free budget travel [that also might just have been the kick in the ass I needed to get my life in gear]; great phone chats with both stevo and maggie on the same day; friday lunch with the parents at soul fish cafe; jackalope launch at the lynx lair; rhodes women smoked sewanee; huey's date with eli and steve.

What an awesome way to wrap up January. I'd say this year is off to a pretty stellar beginning.
xx