Daddy's Fish BowlA Clear View Of A Father's Family Experiences

Yesterday was a day filled with many different emotions for me.  Who knew one simple event could create such a range of feelings in one individual.  Throughout the workday, anticipation built up to an all time high.  After work, knowing that this outing was growing ever closer, eagerness began to creep in.  During the short drive to our destination, eagerness turned to excitement; once we arrived I was in total bliss giddy as a school girl.  Shortly after however, things went really bad, really quick.  I’m talking stage diving and no one catches you bad.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that I had made a huge mistake.

When I read that previous paragraph, I thought to myself, “wow, was I about to pick up my Powerball winnings or possibly on the way to meet my favorite celebrity?” Then I snapped back and remembered exactly what event caused such a myriad of emotions and I hung my head slightly lower in shame.  In shame because a simple trip to the Drive-In theater should not be able to induce an entire rainbow of feelings in a grown man.  But you know what, I’m lifting my head up because I’m proud that the nostalgia of the Drive-In Theater hasn’t abandoned me.  It holds a special place in my heart, rooted in childhood and yesterday I was prepared to share that with my family for the first time.

Both of the boys were excited about our forthcoming adventure yesterday, although neither of them fully understood the magnitude of journey that we were about to embark on.  Tre was just excited to be leaving the house in his pajamas.  To him I believe the world as he knew it ceased to exist for a moment.  The excitement in his face when he finally realized that he was putting his pajamas on not to go to bed, but in fact to actually “go bye-bye” was priceless.  Ty on the other hand just could not grasp the concept of going to the movies, but staying in the car.  His expressions were those of someone utterly confused while being wildly excited at the same time.  Again, priceless.  These priceless moments all fed into my excitement that YES this is happening; my family is going to the drive in, as I had done so many times as a child.

Once we arrived, we lucked up and found a spot in the front row, dead center.  It was as if the stars were all aligned and the hands of fate were on our payroll.  Things were definitely different than the Drive-In back home, but hey it was still a Drive-In so no worries.  No worries, until we were told that since this was a “car optional” Drive-In and people mainly come to sit on the lawn and listen to the movie through the portable speakers next to the screen that we couldn’t have the car turned on.  No ignition means no AC and no AC in hot, humid, muggy weather means decreased excitement, increased attitude.  Nonetheless, we carried on and tried to enjoy the movie.

Then another unanticipated issue came up.  Tre’s bedtime is typically 7:30-8pm, the movie didn’t start until around 8:15.  Do you see where this is going?  When Tre is sleepy, Tre chooses one of three personas to assume: silly, cranky, or restless.  Well last night, for some odd reason, perhaps to mock me, he decided to pick all three.  He was constantly getting into things, constantly getting in trouble and constantly getting put into time out.  Don’t ask me how it’s possible to put a toddler in time out while trapped inside a 4 person car; just know that it can be done.  There were two main incidents that made me conclude, the Drive-In just isn’t for us.  Well at least not for the remainder of this summer. 

Incident #1: Tre decides that he is royalty and his fans need to see him, he needed to be one with the people.  So he decides to climb on my shoulder and stick his head out of the sunroof.  We thought it was cute, snapping pictures and laughing, until he decided to address his unsuspecting “followers”.  He started talking to people who were trying to enjoy the movie.  One person walking towards the concession stand was promptly told to go sit down by Tre, ruler of all that is to be ruled.  I swear the guy paused for a minute and actually considered returning to his blanket.  After a few brief conversations, we pulled him back into the car and you would have thought we were torturing this kid the way he cried and screamed to get back to the sunroof.

Incident #2:  After coming out of time out for the umpteenth time, I decided to let Tre sit up in the front with me to get a better view of the screen and hopefully hold his attention so that he wouldn’t continue to create mayhem.  What in the world was I thinking?  I’ve made some pretty dumb decisions throughout my lifetime, and I’m pretty sure that this one falls somewhere in the top 5.  As soon as he gets in the front, the kid instantly turns into Mario Andretti and acts as if he had mysteriously been teleported directly into the last lap of the Indy 500.  That’s when it happened, in one fell swoop, the boy put my car’s horn in a death grip.  I mean he really laid into that thing, I’m talking just got cut off on the highway, had to slam on your breaks, spilled your coffee on a white shirt while heading to an interview horn blow.  There were people sitting directly in front of our car, particularly a little old lady with her grandchildren.  The way this lady jumped out of her folding chair made me wish that I could die for her, because surely the only thing could follow a scare like that was a heart attack. 

After receiving death stares from more than a handful of people, I knew that my dream had become a nightmare and it was time to go.  As we drove away, a single tear dropped from my eye, because on that night, my childhood memories of family night at the Drive-In died a short, but painful death.