Phantom and Fruit

We all have books or movies that we love but hate the ending. We would love to be able to rewrite them....fix them!! I have been listening to, singing, and watching the Phantom of the Opera for as far back as I can remember.

When I was a kid, my Mom was volunteering as an usher at a theater so she could watch major Broadway shows for free. I will never forget the day she came home from seeing the Phantom of the Opera for the first time. She was starry-eyed and glowing. She had bought the CD that very night and we laid in bed together listening to it. Before each song she explained what had happened and what the costumes looked like and the sounds from the stage. I pictured it all in my mind and the music from the CD player pounded through my veins. I was under the Phantom's spell. In-love with the Music of the Night. When I saw it for myself a few years later, not even the breathtaking live performance could compare to that night surrounded by music with my Mom's voice painting the pictures in my heart.

When I heard that Andrew Lloyd Weber had decided that after all these years the ending to the Phantom still bothered him and that he was determined to make a sequel, saying that I was *excited* is an understatement. It's called Love Never Dies. My husband got us tickets to see it at a movie theater that was streaming it live from The Met Opera. It was a date.

This date turned out to be as full of drama as the show itself. We got to our seats, but there were *technical* difficulties (*technically*, the movie theater employees were idiots) and we went home sad and Phantomless! We had to wait a whole other week for the next (and last) show.

I'm glad to say that we went last night and it went wonderfully. My husband (who has never seen the Phantom live) had tingles. It was great!!

But there was one little problem....date night, Phantom tickets, on a WEDNESDAY. There is nothing even remotely *free* about a Wednesday. And I love me some treats during my movie. And I love me some dinner with my date! However, I also love me some pants that *fit*..... sooo we had a healthy dinner at home, and stopped at a natural food store around the corner from the theater. It's huge and has a great bulk section with no-sugar-added dried fruit. I got one piece of each: fig, papaya, pear, ginger, and pineapple. I also got a single tiny piece of dark chocolate. It only came to $2.26 which won't even buy you a single M&M at the movie theater.

I snuck my water bottle and healthy treat into the theater (I like to live on the edge) and enjoyed it during the pre-show. It was so tasty. The fig was a WHOLE fig. Delicious. And the pear tasted like a fruit roll-up. And the chocolate....mmmmm.... It all came in at about 200 calories... and was worth every single one. I didn't feel deprived and I didn't blow my diet. Success!!