Brian Regan Date

When I think of excitement, when I think of entertainment, when I think of a city that never sleeps...

New York City? Been there. Theater, shopping, sidewalks full of hustle and bustle. Enjoyable. Will someday go there with the hubby.

Vegas? Got married there! It's all lights, chocolate fountains, and strawberries as big as your hands delivered to your hotel room.

Fort Wayne, Indiana. Haven't been. This is the town Brian Regan flew into on Thursday in order to play a show. Was the show actually in Fort Wayne? Of course not.

Wabash, Indiana.

Wabash. Indiana. A mere 6 1/2 hour drive from St. Louis. Just me and the hubby on the open road. Oh, the intense anticipation! The time change! Our first night away from home and from our dog in a very long time. Our first time being out, taking a road trip, and NOT going to a destination where my relatives live since we got married. Our first time in a hotel since our honeymoon! I brought swim suits! I dreamed of continental breakfasts! Had delicious plans to use every towel in the bathroom!

Sigh.

Yeah, of course, our trip wasn't as romantic or lovely as it should have been. And it was entirely my fault.

The story is my brother is a huge Brian Regan fan. And for good reason. The guy is hilarious. When he wanted to see Brian Regan on tour, we all were up for it. My folks and the hubby and me gave the green light. Besides, my brother is awesome, and there is little I wouldn't do for him. And now that I'm worried that he might join the military since he's been job hunting for over a year (he was laid off like so many people have been), well, every time we can do something together, I'm ready!

Brian Regan's tour schedule... New York, Pittsburgh, Ontario, Washington, Washington, Washington, California, California, California, Boston, Georgia, Georgia, Texas, Texas, Tulsa.

And then one town, a strange, random choice, stuck in the middle with no rhyme or reason. Wabash, Indiana.

WHY? I don't know. But we got tickets and decided to make a night of it. Since Mav the dog can't be left alone for a number of reasons (she's on medicines for epilepsy and hypothyroidism, has separation anxiety, and due to age and her pills, needs to pee ALL the time), so we either take her with when we go places or we just don't go. We set up a pet sitter to come and spend the night with her, crossing our fingers it would go okay. We decided months ago to leave Thursday afternoon, see the show Thursday night, then start back home and stay in a hotel when we got tired. We figured then we'd just get home sometime Friday morning.

Well, we didn't know what the lead up to the show would be. We didn't know the husband would be swamped with work, we'd be dealing with a house full of plumbing and electric problems, and we would, in general, be less than the level of amped we had hoped to be.

It didn't help that I had no idea really where Wabash was located, and that my inability to properly combine math, time, and geography would not, as I had expected, give us almost 2 extra hours to get there... I did everything backwards, I guess. So we'd given ourselves no extra time at all. This was totally my fault.

Almost immediately, the car was full of an atmosphere of "we're not going to make it", and if not for the comedy cds I downloaded for the trip, we would possibly be divorced right now. Wasn't a lot of talkin' in the car. I felt pretty crummy for making the hubby stressed and for dragging us across 3 states in order to see a show.

The drive was otherwise uneventful. My father came from 2 hours north of Wabash (my mom had gotten a terrible cold and couldn't come), and my brother came from 3 hours west. My dad beat us by about 10 minutes, and we beat my brother (the holder of the tickets) by another 10. We were parked and walking towards the building with about 10 minutes to spare. As rushed as everything was, it was still great to see my family and to be there with my husband at my side. I had offered to go alone the previous day, but he never even seemed to consider it.

I took pictures while speed walking. Here is the Honeywell Center, which we all agreed had to be the tallest building in Wabash. This is where Brian Regan was performing. Kinda looks like a hospital.

I let out a little squeal when we turned and entered the main courtyard in front of the building. Lights! Christmas-y! I cropped my father out of this photo because I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to be on the internet. You're welcome, Pops! The hubby looks happy, for a second! Can't believe I captured that on camera!

It was pretty cold. There was SNOW in the forecast. We ran in and got our seats quickly. I immediately felt relieved and in my element. The center was large and we had excellent seats. There was a balcony behind us. Everything looked very professional and relatively new. My brother wore a shirt I had gotten him for Christmas a couple years ago, which made me happy.

I did turn to my husband and ask him if he felt okay. Never have I felt more comfortable with such speed. Hi, Rural Indiana, you are my people.

I don't know why I felt that way. I just did. There was a broad range of ages and everyone just seemed super casual and super familiar to me. I was flanked by my brother and dad on one side and the hubby on the other, and every row of people just seemed like people that I've known all my life. It was really strange for me but also made everything easy. Especially since I know we were both pretty tired, and I was fighting a (winning!) battle against feeling sick to my stomach, with a dash of car sickness, and a pinch of the first stages of a migraine that would cause us to stop for the night 10 miles out of Wabash. Don't we just look fantastic?

It is true that a picture is worth a thousand words.

I was tired but happy to be all be together and to be seeing Brian Regan. I think the hubby and I both sat back and enjoyed the show. Joe Bolster was the opening act and he was pretty funny. Of course, Brian Regan didn't let us down. He was hilarious. All 4 of us laughed hard and often. I didn't feel good and worried that I would get so sick to my stomach that I'd have to leave during the show, but I made it through. I knew that the smartest thing I have possibly ever done in my life was only eat lunch at noon and not eat any snacks or get anything at any gas stations to eat.

The show ended and we all went our separate ways. We made a little caravan following each other in our vehicles the first few miles. It felt nice.

Then, we all turned to our separate exits. My husband had to stop the car almost immediately because I was so sick. Not good. Thank God for Best Western.

They had a large Christmas tree up in the lobby, and although no one was around it, it was obvious that it had come out recently. It was decorated haphazardly and only in the middle. I could hardly believe it. It really does go Halloween, then Christmas now.

The tree would have made me a little happy if I hadn't been needing to get horizontal so badly. Thankfully, our room was close, and we got in there, I took my migraine medicine, and we went to sleep. It was all sweats and socks on our feet. There was no sweet second honeymoon for us. I was just terrified that I would wake up with my migraine, but thankfully, I didn't. It was gone at 4 am our time. And yes, we got up, got ready in 10 minutes, and headed to check out. As we walked down the hall and towards the front desk, I realized how out of it I must have been only a handful of hours before.

I was too tired to get the camera out, but I should have. The Best Western we were staying at, in the middle of NOTHING, had a very, very, very specific theme. A theme that I think probably would give a lot of people nightmares.

THERE WAS A CIRCUS THEME.

AN ELABORATE CIRCUS THEME.

I had only seen the Christmas tree. I had not noticed EVERYTHING else in the hotel. Stuffed animals in old style circus cages, paintings of circus scenes, and the clowns. Oh, God, the clowns. There were tiny clown figurines, large glass clown faces, a porcelain train with each car loaded with one clown after another... Everywhere you looked, clowns. Clowns, clowns, clowns.

There were suites with large brass name plates. The suites had circus-themed names, like Ringling Brothers Suite. It was not a subtle decorating scheme. It was a pie in your face, drill sergeant yelling at you nose-to-nose, deep voiced announcer in your ear yelling, "Are you ready for some EXTREME CIRCUS in your life? No? WELL GET READY!" BOOM! All up in your personal space, all attacking you and sh*t. Then I guess they're supposed to end their greeting with "Welcome to Best Western. We hope you have a restful time here." Sure, why not.

I think we were both pretty okay getting out of there. We headed home, this time with me driving the whole way. The motion sickness stayed away and we were back by 10 am to find Mav happy and fine.

The second we walked in the door, the hubby asked, "Where's Atlas?"

I thought he was crazy. We have how many rescued kitties? Did he really expect them all to be lined up on the staircase when we got home? It was the weirdest thing for him to say.

Then he said, "He's in the basement!" and I thought, "You've lost your frickin' mind."

Threw open the basement door, and low and behold, Atlas was up on the counter and bins and was at eye level with me. He immediately rammed his head into my nose and began purring a monster purr. Sigh.

I guess he'd known the sitter was an easy mark and had snuck into the basement an hour before we got home when she went in there to get Mav's food. She was probably completely unaware anything had happened. The 3 rescues down there were hiding under the staircase, and even though the 2 are very affectionate and loving with us, they hissed and were terrified. Those 3 hadn't met the rest of our kitties yet. It had obviously been a rude introduction since Atlas had some battle marks. We let them be and they came around later in the day.

Atlas had one major addition to his person (his cat?) and that was a giant wound in his ear. We got to run him into the vet right away and learned that it went straight through his ear. It was a mess but at least he was looked at and should be fine. Now I get to give him antibiotics and apply hot packs twice a day. Ever tried to hold a hot-as-hell, wet washcloth to a cat's ear and apply pressure for FIVE STRAIGHT MINUTES?

Twice a day.

Of course.

The perfect ending to the perfect trip.

Am I upset? Do I regret this trip? No. Maybe I would have planned a little better if I could do it over again, but I'd still want to go and for the hubby to come, too.

We would have missed a lot of laughter and we wouldn't be able to say, years from now, "Do you remember that time we drove to Wabash to see Brian Regan?"

"Oh my God. And the Circus Best Western?"