We had a great time last night!

Last night Young'un, his best friend, and I went to see comic Jim Gaffigan perform at Illinois State University. That's about an hour's drive from here, and Young'un drove us there and back in the Grand Prix. He did fantastic! Interstate driving, at night, some of it even on I-55 -- and he handled it like a pro. Of course, it helped that we'd driven the route last Sunday afternoon! I hadn't been to ISU in so many years I'd forgotten exactly how to get there, so we got the route from Mapquest and ran it in daylight. That way, when he was actually driving it at night in traffic, I could concentrate on being his driving mentor without the distraction of being map-reading navigator as well. It all went smoothly as a dream; I was even prepared with the exact change for the $4 parking fee.

We had great seats, right in the middle and pretty close to the stage on the orchestra level. It was a full house! And what a show! The opening act was a young comic who I'll bet will be headlining his own shows before too long -- he was really good. Then Jim Gaffigan took the stage. I've seen him on Comedy Central and really enjoy his comedy. He does a sidesplitting bit about "Hot Pockets" that was the climax of the show. I laughed so much I was out of breath, with tears on my face.

Afterward Jim was in the lobby to meet everyone, sign autographs, and pose for pictures. This was handled really well, with those portable tape things set up like they have in banks, to herd us in a serpentine formation. There was something of a crush at the entrance to this, and here it helped the boys that they were with one of the few grownups among all the college students! The MamaBird gently but firmly edged us into position to start down the line. Young'un had come prepared, with a "Hot Pockets" box for Jim to sign. He was delighted! He wrote, "[Young'un], these will kill you!" with an arrow to the filling, and "Diarrhea pockets", as well as his name. We hadn't brought a camera, but we had Young'un's phone, and we used it to take a picture. That's my tall Young'un on the right.