I’m not sure what the first movie I ever saw was but I definitely remember seeing Star Wars. In 1977. My grandmother and her sister took me to West Farms Mall in CT, where there’s no longer a theater, and we watched the movie. (Now that I’m thinking about it, I have to wonder if I actually saw that movie at the theater in 1977 or maybe a re-release, I’m not sure Star Wars is all that appropriate for a 5 year old.) There are memories I have of other movies at that same theater and another one in CT but they’re garbled and mixed and I’m not sure what else we saw or where but I know there were a lot more. Although, I remember going to see ET like it was yesterday. I also remember that after we went to the movies we’d go to the toy store. Grandparents are the bomb!

Yesterday we took Courtney to see her first movie in the movie theater, Winnie the Pooh. I wasn’t really sure how she’d do with the dark theater and the loud volume but she did really well. We did explain all that before we went. It will be dark. It will be loud. There will be a big huge screen. She hesitated at the door when we walked in, it was already dark but we held her little hands and she slowly made her way to the seats. It’s interesting to me the things that she finds “scary.” There were a couple of moments where she whimpered and was concerned for her movie friends but for the most part, she was enthralled. She sat on Paul’s lap, popcorn in hand, never taking her eyes off the screen. She spent the majority of the movie with her hand in the popcorn bag, mouth slightly agape, just staring. Not eating the popcorn, not really moving at all, just taking it all in. Every now and again she’d look at me and say something. They’re holding hands. Or, They fell in the hole. But otherwise, she really seemed to enjoy it all.

Of course Patrick came along for the ride as well. I’m quite certain he won’t remember the experience but we’ll remember it for him. I put him on the chair between Paul and I where he sat and laughed and laughed and laughed. Not at the movie, no, but at the bounciness of the chair. He was bouncing and bouncing and just loving it. He was very well behaved and took it all in stride, as he does most things.

I’m not sure that Courtney will remember her first movie either, although she at least has a fighting chance. She has a memory like an elephant, remembering things that I’ve forgotten long ago. Paul and I both love introducing Courtney to new things, new adventures. We love the look in her eyes and the excitement (or fear) that she can display. It never ceases to remind me that the things that we take for granted or don’t even notice, are wonderment’s to others. I love the movies. I love going to the movies and getting lost in the story. I love that movies take me somewhere else for a while, let me live in a fairy tale or in outer space or just take me somewhere new. I hope that Courtney and I have lots of movies in our future, adventures we can take and popcorn to consume.