Hold the Popcorn

Nearly 1.5 decades ago, a very wise older couple passed along some sage information. After congratulating my young wife and I on the expected arrival of our first child, they quickly became very serious and announced they would like to pass along some advice. Intrigued, my wife and I gladly accepted the offer and prepared to receive some secret knowledge that would enable us to become great parents.

"Go see as many movies as you can. It will be several years until you will get the chance again."

Wow. That piece of wisdom was worth its weight in gold. We pass it along to as many expectant couples as we can. So, since then, we've made it back into the theater now and again to watch the next must-see animated film or Harry Potter edition. But the wise couple did not prepare us for the other side of the coin. This past holiday season, our youngest child turned 12. In the eyes of the motion picture industry, that is the age of an adult. Still too young to see PG-13 and above, but an adult all the same.

Our neat little family of four found a rare weekend with an available Sunday afternoon and decided to catch a movie. Purchasing our four adult tickets for the Sunday matinée totaled a King's ransom of $40. Thankfully, we had just eaten lunch or the popcorn and drinks would have cost an additional $40.

Looks like we are off the movies again.