Friday Nights

Yesterday evening I took my kids to the movie theater to see Coraline in 3D. That, in and of itself, was fun, but not what I'm choosing to focus on here. Instead, I'd like to figure out what the heck was going on 4 rows in front of me. We bought our tickets early, went to dinner and still were 40 minutes before our show. So early, in fact, that they hadn't cleaned up after the previous show. This gave me ample people watching time, so here's the scene I witnessed . . .

Two teenage girls, a teenage boy, sitting between the girls, and what appeared to be parents. The mom and dad left the theater to buy popcorn. The girl on the right of the boy, leans over and gives the boy a kiss. He immediately recoils, starts to cry (I can tell because he keeps wiping his cheeks with the back of his fist) and leans over toward the other girl, who quite possessively wraps her arms around the boy and comforts him. The poor girl on the right, speechlessly watches the couple as girl #2 hugs and pats his head, and gives him a kiss on the forehead. This girl on the right continues to watch the couple, still without talking, for about 5 minutes, when she gets up and leaves the theater, later coming back with the mom and the dad and acts as if nothing has happened. It was so strange, none of my business, but strange. I keep trying to figure out the relationships of the teenagers. I'm thinking the girl on the right might have been the boy's sister, but I don't kiss my brother like that!

Anyhow, as I'm watching this, it occurred to me that there may have been moments in my life when a situation was misinterpreted by an observer. Without all the pieces to the puzzle, I could draw any number of conclusions, but I'll never know the real story without the facts. When Pete and I were first dating, he used to tease me because I'd eaves drop on the conversations going on around us, at a restaurant, etc. He'd be talking to me and I'd be listening and half-participating in the conversation while I picked up tidbits of conversations around me. I found it very entertaining to try and figure out people's relationship to one another, etc. I haven't done that for years and I figured out why. It's because I have my own kids who I'm busily trying to make behave appropriately in public and I don't have time to worry about what's going on around me. It's good to know that my curiosity hasn't completely left me, although I should stay out of other people's business!

As for Coraline, what a strange children's movie. I liked it, but it was rather dark. By the end of the movie, Tyler took off his 3D glasses because he said they made the movie "all gray". He was right, the colors were more vibrant without the glasses, but I'm sure the film maker wanted it gray! Anyhow, I was concerned about my kids having nightmares last night, but thankfully, they all slept peacefully.

Pete is in Bryce Canyon with the Boy Scouts, snowshoeing. I think that sounds really fun. Anyway, I'm hoping he'll make it home by 6pm because we're signed up to play in a tennis competition. I'm planning on playing on my own, but it would be nice if he could make it.

I just realized I've rambled on about a whole lot of nothing so I'm going to sign off and try to do something productive today!