Wicked!

Over the past decade the term "bucket list" has become fairly mainstream.  A bucket list is a list of things a person wants to during his or her life before death, or when he or she "kicks the bucket".  My view of a bucket list is different than life goals.  Goals are top priorities while bucket list items are more experiences that enrich life.  These may include learning a new skill, completing a task, traveling or going on adventures, etc.  Seeing the musical Wicked has been pretty high up on Arthur's bucket list for several years and we finally checked it off over Valentine's weekend.

Knowing that Arthur has wanted to see this musical I have been checking the national tour schedule for about 3 years to see if it was coming to a city near the middle of Kansas. It did stop in Wichita while we were college students but Arthur decided not to go because the cost of tickets was fairly prohibitive to a college student's budget.  Finally, in November I saw that they would be performing in Springfield, MO so we purchased tickets and decided to make a weekend of it.  My younger brother and his wife, who happens to be a Wicked fanatic like Arthur, joined us for the trip too.

Our first stop in Springfield was eating lunch at Lambert's-- an eating establishment famous for large quantities of home-style Southern food and throwing rolls around the restaurant.  It's a popular stop and at 2:30pm we had a 45 minute wait to get a table.  We each decided to each order something a little different and then share-- chicken fried steak, hamburger steak, and BBQ pork sandwiches.  In addition to the main dishes they would pass around sides such as black eye peas and fried potatoes and toss the famous rolls whenever there was the need for additional carbohydrates.  The food was not served on plates but large skillets.  We all got plenty to eat and then some.  Everything was delicious, except for the turnip greens Arthur ordered.  He cannot pass up an opportunity to try new and exotic foods, but on this occasion, it backfired.

After we were stuffed to the gills, we made the Bass Pro Shop our next stop.  The only person in our group to even own a fishing license is my younger brother who has possibly caught one or two fish.  We are not hardcore anglers and skipped the main section of the store with lures, lines, poles, and bait.  Instead we checked out the displays of real fish and stuffed wildlife.  I perused the hiking and camping gear.  By this time the comfort food from lunch was having an affect causing extreme drowsiness so we made our way to the hotel for a much needed nap before partaking in the arts that evening.

(Arthur writing) The evenings entertainment was all we could want and more; truly worthy of its place on a bucket list.  For anyone who has never seen a professional musical show, it is hard to understand how seeing a spectacle like a live performance could be so more compelling than a movie, but my goodness!  There is so much to take in, so much to appreciate.  Theater must compensate for filling a room with people a varying distances and angles, and the methods involved in acting, costume, stage design, acoustics, and choreography all are adjusted accordingly, resulting in spectacular results.  It was a delight both as an engineer thinking about form and function and as a lover of the arts.  The music was extraordinary, especially the powerful "Defying Gravity."  The story is one that engaged me completely.  I don' know if I've completely thought through all the wondrous things we saw yet.

(Back to Alex) On Sunday morning we snoozed in a little and then head back home.  Another highlight of going to Springfield is that my grandmother only lives an hour away so her house was an easy stop.  Since my grandma lives in southwest Missouri we only get down to see her about once a year.  She had celebrated her 94th birthday early that week so we visited with her about what she did to celebrate.  Also, my grandmother is quite a gardener and while she can't get out in her garden much she still loves flowers.  She had 5 or 6 flower arrangements or blooming houseplants that she had received as gifts.  We talked about her time in college at K-State and meeting my grandfather.  We then ventured into politics and finance-- two of my grandmother's favorite topics.

Our trip was a great weekend getaway and we really enjoyed spending time and sharing the experience with my brother and sister-in-law.  The Monday after our trip we found out that Wicked was coming to Wichita- a mere 90 minute drive. (We highly recommend it to our readership in the central Kansas area.)  Oh well, it was well worth the travel time for the experience.  Omnia Vincit Amor.