An Evening Out at the Movies

Last night we rallied the troops for our first evening out to our new independent movie theater, The Red River Theaters (www.redrivertheatres.org). With Punam here, we figured it was a rare opportunity to out number the next generation. We told Jasper that if he was VERY good and finished ALL of his dinner he would get a VERY special treat and get to go to the MOVIE THEATER with mama and papa and punam and josie. WOW. He obediently put on his diaper and pants (a major accomplishment) and cleaned his plate. At this point, as we were starting to rush out the door, I knocked over a glass of water which spilled all over him, which set him to crying, and necessitated an entire outfit change. We then piled a bundled and screaming Josie, a traumatized Jasper, an exhausted Jessica, an overwhelmed Peter and a slightly confused Punam (why are we doing this?) into the car in the pouring rain and sped off to the movie which was starting in two minutes. Leaving the house often feels like heaving a cannon ball at a brick wall. We were hoping to see Including Samuel (www.includingsamuel.org), which is a documentary about Samuel Habib, a first grader with Cerebral Palsy at Beaver Meadow (my elementary school. This was the last night of the screening at our new independent movie theater. We got there with seconds to spare, but shockingly there was no parking on Main Street (there is always parking on Main Street), so we parked in the new parking lot behind the theater. We grabbed both kids, Punam in tow, and raced up the stairs to the ticket counter only to discover that they were sold out. Sold out?! How could anything in New Hampshire be sold out? At this point we had to explain to Jasper that no, in fact, we were not going to see a movie tonight. We would be eating popcorn in the lobby, and isn't this fun?! Jasper teared up. I teared up, and begged the house manager to let us sit on the floor, stand, anything. Didn't she understand that this was a two year old and we had PROMISED him? No going. We ate a very good bag of popcorn in the lobby, collected ourselves, and slunk out of the theater, much defeated. Then Peter proceeded to validate the parking ticket and leave with it to pick up milk at the store. So Punam, the kids and I were essentially trapped in the parking lot until I snuck out behind an SUV. All this in the pitch black and before 7 pm. Peter and I did return to see the 8:00 showing, which was inspirational and made me proud to be a teacher, proud to work at Beaver Meadow. We have landed in a good place.