[Driving down the road to the “big town” 30 miles north of us where there’s a movie theater.]
Stella, are you going to have fun going to the movies with me tonight?!
I don’t know, Mom.
Why don’t you know?
Well, I’ve never gone to the movies with you before so I don’t know if I will like it.
Huh, well, I think we’re going to have a great time! Are we going to share a popcorn?
No way Mom, I want my own popcorn. Nana lets me get my own popcorn.
Hmmm. Well, I guess we could get our own popcorns. We’ll just share a SPRITE! (I’m thinking this will be a huge treat because she normally isn’t allowed to drink soda.)
Um… no thanks. I’ll just have my own. Nana gets me my own Sprite when I go with her.
[Darn Nanas, always spoiling their grandkids! *grin*]
*****
For months I’ve been wanting to bring Stella to the movies, but somehow it has just never happened. Charlie’s Mom brought her to three movies over the past year and said she always does great at them, and I was a little jealous I’ve never gotten to go with her. I always loved going to the movies as a kid with my family, and I really wanted to do that with Stella myself! When my parents were here last month, the plan was to all go to the movies together, but I ended up staying home, watching Harvey, and going on a bike ride with Charlie while my Mom and Charlie’s Mom brought Stella and her cousins to Inside Out together instead.
Even though she had already seen it, I really wanted to see Inside Out with her myself (a movie about a girl who is navigating some big life changes with the 5 emotions that live inside her head – Joy, Fear, Sadness, Anger, & Disgust), and it was in its final run at the theater this week, so on Wednesday I decided to just go for it and try an evening show with Stella, even though it meant being out past her bed time. It started at 7pm, and she was completely enthralled the entire movie. It was so cute to watch! I only broke down at one point worrying about Jaime being like Bing Bong (*SPOILER ALERT*), Riley’s “childhood friend” who ended up in forgotten memories. #Sob We are doing our best to keep her in the long term memories section instead, but it kills me to think of how much she won’t remember! At any rate, it was a fantastic movie – we will definitely be buying it to have at home.
After the show, we went to the grocery store and bought $200+ of groceries, and I realized at the check out that my credit card was probably on the floor of the movie theater. DOH! So we went back across town and I pounded on the front door until they let me in, I walked into the theater (it was on the 9pm showing at that point) and found my card right where I knew it would be, got some gas, and headed home. Stella fell asleep on the way home about 10:30, but she was a total trooper, especially considering how far past bed time she was at that point. It was such a perfect Mommy & Stella night together – we will definitely be doing that again!
