So just another interesting story that happened in Salem......

So you learn something new everyday.  On Tuesday of last week, Nicole and I learned a very valuable lesson.  So the space we were in in Salem, IL was an old converted theater.  It used to be an old movie theater and now it is a stage theater.  So on every single armrest is a cup holder shaped like a giant donut.  Instead of the newer ones that have an X thru the middle to prevent  your cup from falling this one simply had a smaller circle.  Needless to say it would hold a regular soda cup but not a Dixie.  Anyway, we had all of our kids seated in the chairs before rehearsal waiting for a few stragglers to come in when Joseph, one of our Nasties, he was 8, gets my attention.  I go over and he is near tears in a state of panic.  I ask what's wrong and he says his arm is stuck.  I then notice that he has stuck his arm THROUGH the cup holder up to his bicep and is now stuck.  I asked what happened and he said, in just a slightly twangy southern accent, "I was trying to show off and I got my arm stuck." I try to calm him down because now he has convinced himself that he will be stuck forever.  Joseph is 8 but not a petite 8 year old and in his panic to get free he is sweaty and his arm is starting to swell.  Thank heaven I put ice in my Nalgene that morning.  Nicole grabs my water bottle and I proceed to pour ice water onto his arm and into the cup holder.  At this point our contact Lisa is now calming him down and I'm trying to wiggle his arm free.  So long story short we get Joseph free and big cheers from everyone.  He was fine and only had a slight indentation on his bicep from the cup holder.  So lesson learned:  To remove a sweaty child's plump arm from a cup holder apply ice water and breathing techniques.  

P.S. The very next morning we arrive and Joseph proceeds to have a seat and immediately place both hands into the cup holders.  I go over to him and ask him if he remembers the lesson we learned yesterday about cup holders.  He replies again in a slightly twangy southern accent, "Yes, Ma'am, " and places both of his hands neatly in his lap.