Movie Date

Today came and went in a fairly uneventful manner: Ava went to school, the girls played, and I spent much of my day unburying our house from the carnage of coming home yesterday. Kids went to sleep peacefully, and I was looking forward to a nice quiet hour or two sitting on the couch playing solitaire on the tablet while some television show played in the background. No sooner had I come downstairs, however, than my dad asked if I was interested in watching The Blind Side with him. I had mentioned last week that we have a copy of it but I had never taken the time to sit down and watch it. I knew that watching a movie with my dad would not be doing something else while vaguely paying attention. When my dad watches a movie he really likes, nothing else goes on while watching that movie.

So we sat and watched The Blind Side. A terrific movie to be sure, and inspiring to say the least. But for me, the memory for the night doesn't come from the movie itself. More than once I sat back and took in the scene of me on the couch and Dad on his air mattress watching this movie, and I was transported back to my childhood. My dad does not naturally go out of his way to do things with others that THEY enjoy, but he is more than willing to share in things HE is passionate about. So I learned at an early age that if I wanted to spend quality time with my dad it should be on his terms, so to speak. We would play outside with the baseball, football, or soccer ball for hours in the nasty-humid Florida heat. I would sit through baseball games on the TV and do all I could to act interested. And I would watch his favorite movies with him - Pride of the Yankees, the Babe Ruth Story, any Muppet movie, and It's a Wonderful Life, just to name a few. Many of these movies I knew by heart solely from watching them with my dad. And while all of them are good movies, I didn't watch them unless it was with my dad. It was one of our things, and watching another classic with him tonight brought back many of those wonderful memories. I am so glad I took advantage of the opportunity to spend another evening with my dad, enjoying a great movie and even greater company.