More than just theater tickets

I mostly feel hassled by Mark's job at the Hale Theater.  I used to feel a little hassled by Emma's job there too but since she doesn't live at home it doesn't bother me anymore.

The problem is the timing.  They usually have to leave around 6:00 and it used to be before Adam got home from work and now it's hard to get myself in order to make dinner because I've been at work.

This weekend, I had a window into how really great it is for them and I will feel less angsty about the inconvenience of the whole dinner thing.

For starters, Mark worked a lot this week.  He was scheduled Tuesday-Thursday and then 13 hours on Saturday.  Emma has recently been promoted to be a door manager and Friday was her first night alone at the helm.  She was short ushers so Mark volunteered to work even though he tries to hold Fridays sacred for his friends.

Then, we did manage to have dinner on Friday night and Mark said a blessing before we ate.  He prayed for Emma on her first night being door manager.

Hearing Mark pray is one of the delights of my life.

Saturday we stole a little time in between shows and took Emma and Mark to a late lunch.  I loved hearing them chat about work.  I love seeing the dynamic of Emma being Mark's boss.  It's not always rosy; Emma has never not ever been afraid to tell either of her brothers what's on her mind.  She told Mark to vacuum a part of the theater when they got back and I know for a fact that Mark hates vacuuming more than any household chore.  He earnestly nodded at her and said, "OK, I will."

Adam and I had tickets to the theater Saturday night.  We stood in the line to pick up our tickets from our boy.  I said something to him about being the cutest usher and the woman in line in front of me gave me a sideways look.

Then we stopped into the box office and showed Emma the tickets Mark had reserved for us.  She decided she could do better so she printed us new tickets for better seats.

She said, "Come back and see me during the intermission."

At the intermission we decided there were empty seats that were better than ours so she gave us the go ahead to change seats again.

It's not just nice to have a resource to upgrade your seats though.  Here's the part I loved the most.  During the intermission, Mark was in the lobby and Emma was in the box office.  Mark was head usher and he and Emma were talking through their headsets and troubleshooting some of the technology up front not working.  Emma was helping a patron and dealing with the activity in the lobby and then she said into the headset, "I'm on my way."

She said, "They need help with concessions."

Adam and I stood in the wings off to the side of the lobby and watched in awe as Emma and Mark deftly served drinks and candy and counted changed and had these friendly tones of voice that aren't always...in full view.

I was thinking what a great thing it is for them to be responsible for something and have to problem solve when things go wrong.  There was nothing we could do to help and they didn't seem to need us anyway.

It felt kind of like when they first rode a bike by themselves.  Wow!  Look at them go!