Going To The Movies…

 

I enjoy going to the movies.  However, the closest theater is about twenty-eight miles away from here. I’m at a place in my life where it has to be a really special movie to get me to make the effort  to see it.  Most of the movies that are being made these days are a far cry from being special, but that’s just my humble opinion.  However, there was a time when some great movies were being made, and I became a “regular” at the movies.

In 1989 both of my parents became very ill, and were in a hospital in the city for over four months.  I’d get up every weekday morning, get two of my children ready and off to school, send the youngest child to stay with Ed’s daddy, then make the drive to the city to the hospital.  I’d visit my parents in the hospital until shortly after lunch, then turn around and make the trip back home.  It was a three hour, one-hundred and ten mile trip–every day.   That was my way of life for over four months.   It’s no wonder that after a while,  I became stressed out.

There was a movie theater on my way in and out of the city.  One day I decided to stop and watch an early movie on my way home.  I enjoyed myself so much, I began to make it a regular habit a day or so a week.  I’d get some popcorn and a coke, watch a movie, and totally forget my worries for about two hours.  Among the movies that I remember seeing were Steel Magnolias, Driving Miss Daisy, Dances With Wolves,  and Rain Man.   Dances Wtih Wolves is the most beautiful movie I’ve ever seen on the big screen, but RainMan is my favorite movie of all times.  I’ve seen it over twenty times!  Sometimes I think those movie days helped me keep my sanity.

When our children were young,  there was a drive-inn movie located about twenty-five miles from our house.  The drive-inn showed two different movies at the same time and it only cost “a dollar a car load” on Wednesday nights.  We had a Suburban back then, so we’d load everybody up  and go to the drive-inn on Wednesday nights.  Usually one of the two movies was something that we all wanted to see.  Occasionally some of us would be watching one movie while the rest watched the other movie.  That was always interesting!  We  picked up the sound of the movie through radios.  I still remember watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation at that drive-inn, and laughing until I cried!

After our children grew up, my husband and I would sometimes go to Saturday or Sunday afternoon matinée.  He doesn’t really care much about movies, but always takes me to see one if I ask him to.  One particular day we were at the theater and it was raining hard.  We noticed that there were some leaks in the ceiling of the theater.  About half-way through the movie, a large section of the ceiling fell on some people seated across the aisle from us.  When the ceiling fell in, at least a bucket full of water fell with it!  The poor people got drenched and had to leave.   I was so grateful that we weren’t sitting there.  I can’t remember what movie we were watching, but my husband says it was probably something with Tom Cruise in it! 

Times have changed and I don’t go to the movies much anymore.  In fact the last movie that I went to see was a Veggie Tales movie, and I went to see it with my grandchildren this past summer!  I’m a little old for Veggie Tales, but I watched my grandchildren’s faces more than I watched the movie.  It was their first movie experience!   The popcorn was still just as good as I remembered it was.  You just can’t beat that movie theater popcorn!