Last Friday I took my family to see Mamma Mia. It was Hubby, I, both my girls, my grandmother and mom. (Thank you so much to the ladies who gave me the tickets they couldn't use. My family truly enjoyed the experience all together!)Just so you understand... B LOVES Abba and Mamma Mia. It's one of her favorite movies. I have sung Abba songs to my girls since they were born. They LOVE it.
So as we were sitting in our seats and the show started B got excited and clapped. The guy in front of us turned around and looked. Not a big deal right? The show went on.
Then she coughed. The guy let out a sigh that sounded frustrated but who would get angry at a kid for coughing? More of the play passed.
Then D whispered "Can I have my drink?". The guy in front whipped his head around and "SHUSHED" my 5 year old! I honestly barely heard what she asked but he had the nerve to shush her. I did nothing, just told her to take a drink and try to be quieter. I am one of those who feels that everyone has a right to enjoy their show so even though this jerk was uber sensitive to every sound... let him watch the performance.
Then Brianna leaned over and whispered something to my grandmother. I couldn't hear what she said but the guy whipped his head around and shushed her and my grandmother. This is when I got mad.
My daughter has some impulse control issues. She has a hard time hearing music and not signing and dancing and here she sits perfectly quiet and barely rocks in her seat and this guy wants to shush her for whispering something that even I sitting a seat away couldn't hear?!?!? If he only realized just how hard it was for her to contain herself and she was doing it perfectly!!!
Ok, remember how I said everyone has the right to enjoy the show? Well this douche bag is keeping my kids from enjoying the show because D is scared to move and B is scared to make a sound.
Finally intermission comes. The lights go on and the guy gets up and shoots a mean look to my family and storms off. I get up to go after him. I am ready to lay into him ask him how he thinks shushing girls at a play based on rock music is ok? Does he consider for one second the kids ages? Or the fact that my grandmother has wanted to see this play for years? Or how she nervous to speak because this man may shush a special needs kid again and cause her to get upset enough to miss the show?
But I don't go after him. I decide that during the next half of the show we will be up dancing and singing along just like several of the other guests were doing and if he doesn't like it he can leave or shush me. And I'd LOVE to see how that works out for him.
When he comes back he has several other people with him and the girls are still being practically perfect, giggling, talking about their favorite scenes so far and singing. He moves down several seats and sits with his party. Good riddance!
When the show started again the girls sang quietly, rocked back and forth in their seats, tapped their toes and clapped. They truly enjoyed the second half sooo much! And at the end for the finally we all got up and danced in the aisle.
I look over and see the grouch from earlier and watch as he sits stiff in his chair and stares at the stage and suddenly... I feel sorry for him.
My anger is gone. This guy sat there alone and unhappy and I pity him. I pity anyone who would begrudge a child for having a good time or scold them for quietly asking for a drink. His new seat, surrounded by his friends(?) may have been quieter but they sit there stiff and don't even look like they are enjoying themselves.
When the show is over we leave laughing and still signing and every usher we pass asks how the girls liked the show and they enthusiastically say they loved it. He walks with his group, they are barely talking and no one for one second would suspect he had a good time.
And even though he had the audacity to shush my girls and almost ruined the first half of the show... I feel sorry for him. Unhappy people want to make others just as unhappy as they are. I don't know why this guy seemed so unhappy. I don't want to know. All I know is when we made the decision to not let his grumpiness effect us we had a great time. And for half the show we were the Dancing Queens!
So the moral of the story is...
Don't let those below you pull you down to their level. If they don't want to step up and sing with you... let them walk away as you dance behind their backs!!
