Ballet?

Mr. and Mrs. Ford at the Ballet; it doesn’t sound possible to me either. No, I wasn’t dancing this time, it has been years since I …

Who would have thought that the Fords of Hewitt would go to the Ballet, but it happened. Sunday, April 29^th was our first experience at observing some of the preforming arts. You are probably wondering how people on a fixed income like us, could end up at SMU in Dallas on a Sunday evening.

               In the olden days when I was working, it would be a truck line or other vendor taking us to some type event.  Now we have to pay our own way to nice events or, “win a radio contest by knowing the correct answer”.  Some time you just have to be the “15^th caller” to be a winner.

               Speaking of winning I won $8.00 on the Texas Power Ball this past week and $4.00 the prior week. They say the odds of winning Power Ball are 1 in 34, which are better odds than the Lotto. I would rather win a million or more and I might do that this week.

               We drove to Dallas Sunday afternoon and went to SMU. The parking lots around the Auditorium were full, we had to park several blocks away in a shopping area and walk to the auditorium.  I guess we were a little late as we had to sit in seats that were about 6 rows from the back on and the right side. The seats were smaller than airline seat and we all know how small they are.

               Talk about being seated, I went to the eye doctor today. I was supposed to go tomorrow but they called and changed the date and time last week.  They want their patients to arrive 15 minutes prior to the appointment, but they never stick with their schedule. Today I waited 45 minutes past my appointment time, when you add the 15 minutes that I arrived early, it was an hour of sitting in a waiting room with a lot of old people. Old defined is; people at least as old as me. At my previous appointment, they allowed me to sit in their waiting room for an hour plus the 15 minutes I arrived early.  The good thing about today, the doctor did not dilate my eyes. It seems as if I am doing ok except for the cataracts.  He said when I feel like the cataracts are a problem to let him know and they would remove them. Leaving it up to me, wow.

               I departed from the main subject; as we sat in our small seats we heard the bell informing people that they had 5 minutes before curtain call. More people filed in and took their seats. The final one minute bell rang and I could not believe the number of people basically running to get in their seats.

               The announcer asked everyone to either turn their phones to silent or off. The lights went down and I could hardly believe the number of lights from cell phones. It is bad enough when people sit around tables in restaurants looking at their smart phones, never talking to others, but in a dark auditorium, come on. 

               Even though it was a Ballet the first act was tap dancing. I did not expect tap but it was ok. The Ballet finally started and I actually enjoyed the dancing. Gabi was in a group that was Tinker Bell type Fairies. They all had wings and they danced around the stage.  Obviously Gabi’s group was the best of all the groups. After the show was complete Gabi was given flowers and we got a photo.

               After this photo was taken we went out to have supper. 

               I should not admit to this but, since we arrived home later than usual Sunday night, both Donna and I over slept by about an hour Monday morning. That is not unusual for me, but it is for Donna.

From the always twirling and pirouetting mind of                 Don Ford

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