The Date

This font is called "Lucida Grande". I don't know that it looks much different from New Roman Times, but it sounded lovely, and I thought a post entitled The Date should have a lovely type font. Hmm. They need more font choices.

So last Saturday, my husband and I decided to go on a date. Our last "date" without our daughter was on our two year (!) anniversary in December. We went to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at that time, but I didn't enjoy it as it was our first time leaving Elora with anyone. But, seeing it on video this week assured me that I wouldn't have been that impressed without the baby in the back of my mind anyway. Good fun, but not great. The book was better.

This Saturday, we were also going to see a book turned movie. We had found a theatre that was still playing Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Our first Christmas together, Joseph bought me the book series and I found it surprisingly enjoyable, despite my memory of despising said books in middle school. (My favorite in the series is The Magicians Nephew.) The previews for said movie had built our excitement, because Lucy wasn't buck-toothed, and Aslan wasn't a bad anamatronics puppet. There weren't even cartoon ghosts as one might fear based on previous versions.

We made preparations for a last minute babysitter, looked up movie times, and did our grocery shopping in the morning so we wouldn't have to worry about anything that afternoon. By now, Elora has been watched many times on the days that I work, and I knew she could handle it. True, this was the first time she was being watched by a 12-year-old young woman rather than an adult, but I wasn't too worried.

The movie started at 4:20, at a huge 16-plex theatre in the Alderwood mall, with each theatre having stadium seating. Nice. I told "sally" (names have been changed) to come over at 4:00. That was my first mistake. The theatre is actually about 20 minutes away. sally has never been to my house. So, naturally, sally was ten minutes late and we didn't have more than ten minutes, much less twenty, to get where we needed to go.

Joseph drove like a madman through the mall traffic, where the drivers didn't seem to understand that we were in more of a hurry than they were. In fact, most seemed oblivious to the 'Baby on Board' sign in our back window, and we almost got in a few accidents. Okay, you're right, the baby wasn't on board, but they should still respect the sign!

Finally we pulled up next to the large and spacious theatre, and Joseph said I should get a place in line while he parked the car. I held out my hand for his debit card as I had paid for the babysitter earlier, and I left mine at home. Joseph looked at me blankly. "I don't have it, you do." he said. I smirked; he always plays this game when I ask if he has the keys, or something of similar importance, and he inevitably cracks a grin and pulls them from an inner pocket.

"No really, it's in your coat; you had it when we went shopping this morning!" He insisted. Uh- oh. That didn't sound like his joking voice. And as I felt around vainly for the plastic card, I realized this didn't look like the coat I'd worn that morning either. Already stressed from the hectic car ride, I couldn't bear this new complication and I burst into tears.

I know. Pathetic. Its just a movie, right?

Joseph still had his head on his shoulders though, and he lost no time in getting us back to our apartment. Miraculously, we again avoided any car accidents. I didn't want to go inside because I didn't want the baby-sitter to see me, and I had no idea what to say to her. Joseph retrieved his card from my coat in the closet, and quickly looked up all the other theatres and movies playing in the area. He printed off the list and brought it out to me in the car, where I grumpily reviewed the offerings.

Watching Narnia was now out of the question; it didn't play again until 8:00 that night. Lets see, pay the babysitter double and hope the baby doesn't get too upset that she hasn't eaten in seven hours? I think not. Most of the shows out were rated R or looked really stupid. I hate wasting money seeing a movie that isn't special, but I still wanted to go out.

Finally I settled on The Pink Panther, with Steve Martin. Because it didn't play until 6:00, that meant we had to pay full price....which here means $9.50 a person. Yeah. Now thats a real waste of money. Especially since the sitter was already getting a $20.

But because we now had an abundance of time, our drive back was much less stressful. When we sat down in the theatre we were actually in a good mood. And although the movie was indeed corney and pricey, Joseph loved it and I had fun being with him.

So what if our date cost forty dollars and we didn't even eat anything? ( a small soda was $4.00)So what if the baby got a really bad diaper rash because "sally" didn't change her diaper the whole time we were gone? So what if she let her chew on a chapstick container that she could have swallowed and choked on? And so what if those twenty-somethings in that red car almost rammed into us on purpose? (jerks.) We had a fun date, and I'm not complaining.

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But mommy I missed you!

(I couldn't resist at least one)