Sidwalk to Lawn Chair My How My Priorities Have Changed

Our daughter has attended drama camp for the past three years in Nashville. It is hosted by the Nashville Children's Theater, which is the nations oldest children's' theater and is ranked number 4 in the nation.

Registration for the camp is done via their website and in an effort to improve upon our registration experience NCT opted to change vendors and created a new website just for camp registration. They tested it for weeks prior to the registration date, yet despite all their efforts the website crashed within (15) minutes of going live, which resulted in 70% of their classes remaining unfilled. In an effort to be fair they decided to void all registrations and to hold a one day only in person registration on site. The date of the registration today. No registrations would be taken via the mail or their website ( which is still defunked) and they would not begin filling classes until 1pm.

Our daughter already had a commitment on the calendar for today as she and her grandmother were scheduled to attend her Kids Sewing Club, so yours truly was "tagged" to drive into Nashville to register her for summer camp. I arrived early, as I wasn't sure just how many people would show up. I know they cycle hundreds of kids through their summer programs, and since there was only (1) two week camp session being offered for the class our daughter wanted to attend I felt arriving early was paramount to our success.

Upon entering I quickly grabbed a registration form and was show by a NCT volunteer to a blue line. I along with a three other parents were given the low down on how the process would work. We were to follow the blue line as it snaked around the building and became the purple line. We were to "hug" the purple line until it became the yellow line and once we reached the green line we were to wait until we were called to the next registration computer. We were to keep our eyes peeled to the posters on the wall, which contained the camp listings. As camps were filled a red line would be drawn across the date, which would signal it was time for us to move to plan (B).

You know when you stand in line with people for a few hours you get to know alot about them. I shared my line with a lady name Abby who had three kids, two of which she was attempting to register. They had breakfast at the funky grill that is a place downtown where you cook your own pancakes and bacon ( a treat I am sure with her crowd all under the age of 7). My cohort to the left was a Drama Professor at a private school in Nashville. He had been unsuccessful at registering his daughter and son last year as he waited (3) days past registration only to be told there were (200) people on the waiting list and his or their chances were slim of making a session so he was trying to get a "jump" on this years classes.

After about 1 1/2 hours in line it dawned on me that this wasn't the first time I had waited in line for a coveted "spot" to an event. As I shared with my new friends, I once spent an entire night sleeping on a sidewalk in an effort to purchase tickets to U2 opening concert in Lakeland Florida. My friend Lisa and I brought blankets and pillows, cards and snacks and settled in for a long night of waiting in front of the Block Buster Video Store, which also housed our local Ticket Master outlet. I turned to my fella parents in line and said "My my my how my priorities have changed. I have gone from sleeping on a sidewalk for ticket to a rock concert to standing in a line and sitting in a lawn chair in hopes of getting my child a space in the summer drama camp."

A few sighed that all to familiar sigh.they understood exactly where I was coming from. After a few chuckles the moment we all had been waiting for...registration was open. One lady who stood about (6) people in front of us said " Maybe we would be more successful if we all rushed them on the count of 3?" We decided that probably wouldn't be in our kids best interest so we resisted the urge. Instead we stood and sat patiently as the registration process crept along. Finally around 3:05pm, I made my way to the table and was successful in snagging a spot for our daughter.

I didn't leave before checking with my "friends" who were smiling from ear to ear as their kids were "in" as well. I couldn't help but note there were about (100) people still waiting to make their way to the front of the line. I wished them success and headed to my car as giddy about her camp spot as I was the morning we were able to buy tickets to U2. I couldn't help laughing unto myself that drama camp for my kid had just trumped U2...sorry Bono as hard as it is to admit it my priorities have changed!