Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to take EA, MC, and Will to see a Sesame Street show for military families.
Actually I jumped at the opportunity as soon as it presented itself.
There are only a few children’s television shows that my children watch. Sesame Street is one of them. Elmo is a huge favorite in our family. We even used the Sesame Street Deployment videos as we prepared for my husband’s deployment to Iraq and redeployment back home. It was a huge help in helping the kids understand what was going on and giving them someone to relate to.
I had no idea the Sesame Street show was coming to a place near us. On the morning of the show, my husband received an e-mail from his former commander who is now in Hawaii asking if we knew it was going to be at Ramstein, which is only a half-hour drive away from us.
Keith called me and I told him I didn’t know anything about it but definitely wanted to take the kids if we could find out information about when and exactly where it was.
So he started making phone calls and I started getting the kids and myself ready.
He called back to let me know the location and show times. I decided that it would work best for us to get ready and head out the door right away for the 1:30 show.
I put out a question on facebook asking if anyone else knew about it and soon received a message from a friend asking if we had tickets.
Tickets????
I had no idea that we would need tickets for the free events, so I called Keith and asked him to check on it.
My heart sunk at the possibility of missing out on this because, unfortunately, it was something that all three of my children were already looking forward to. As soon as he was dressed, Will was lined up at our front door, just waiting on me to say it was time to head out.
Keith called back right away and told me that the 3 pm and 6 pm shows did require a ticket and they were sold out, but that the 1:30 show (which we were planning to go to) was general admission and the first 500 in line would be allowed in.
At that point I became a Mommy on a Mission.
I was determined to do everything I could to make sure my children had this opportunity. We are so limited living here in what they can experience as far as children’s events and activities and I did not want them to miss out on this.
So we left home a little before 11 for the 1:30 show.
We arrived at Ramstein at 11:30 and I asked the guard at the gate for directions to the specific location and of course, because I am TERRIBLE with directions so I asked if there would be signs and he replied that he had just gotten back from Afghanistan and he didn’t know. I completely understood and decided that I could/would just figure it out as I went.
We zipped through the Burger King drive-thru on post and I attempted to find the location.
Well, I drove around the entire air force base at least three times and was at the point of just giving up when I happened to make a turn that landed me in the exact place where we needed to be.
I got everyone out of the car and loaded our food into the stroller.
It was then right at 12 and they were going to open the doors at 1 pm for the show. We were the second family in line. Actually we started the line along with a small daycare group. And I was still so nervous about missing out that I made my poor children eat their lunch sitting on the sidewalk while we waited on the doors to open.
I’m pretty sad, I know…
Anyway, we made it into the show and it was a wonderful experience that I am so glad EA, MC, and Will got to have.
The free show, which is exclusively for military families, featured live character performances by Zoe, Elmo, Rosita, Cookie Monster and Grover. They also had giveaways for the children in attendance, twirly lights that my kids are still playing with and outreach materials from Sesame’s Talk, Listen, Connect and other partners.
EA and Will sat right in front of the stage together. MC is a bit more timid, so she sat with me in the front row of bleachers. I was a little worried that Will would freak out when the characters came on stage, but he did great! He only got a little nervous when Cookie Monster got a little too close with his cookie jar!
The best part was that Sesame Street has really made an effort to reach out to our military kids and the special needs and hardships that they have. At one point in the show Elmo expressed sadness that his daddy had to go away (on deployment) and that’s something very real that my children can relate to.
The very last song that Elmo sang was about how proud he was of the boys and girls for helping out at home while their parents are away. I teared up as I thought about how strong my three little ones had to be while their Daddy was away. I thought of the many times that they expressed sadness over missing him. I thought about all that they missed, all the ups and downs we had, and about how proud I am of them for enduring it all.
When we got back in the car after the program, I told EA, MC, and Will that I was very proud of them for being so good. EA and MC immediately replied, “Elmo is proud of us, too, Mommy!”
The Sesame Street/USO Experience for Military Families will be coming to other locations in Europe, Alaska and Hawaii in 2009. Check the 2009 Tour Schedule to see if it is coming to a location near you or someone you know.
Erin @ Closing Time says
What a wonderful experience for your children! I’m so glad you were able to go. I think it is great that Sesame Street does this for our military families! You deserve so much thanks from all of us!!
.-= Erin @ Closing Time´s last blog ..They Still Haven’t Found What They’re Looking For =-.
LifeAtTheCircus says
I am so excited that you guys were able to have such a wonderful experience. And it warms my heart to hear that SS does so much to encourage and support our military families.
.-= LifeAtTheCircus´s last blog ..Not Much Has Changed =-.
Jennifer says
Hi Monika, I’m writing to you from Sesame Street’s Marketing Department. We’d love to use part of your letter as a quote in our Annual Report this year – your letter was so wonderful. Please let me know the best way to get in touch with you so we can hopefully discuss further. Many thanks for your kinds words about our work. Best, Jennifer Rupnik