Those Were The Days

Steve and I went to the movies the other day to see a silly little movie that didn't get very good reviews.  Well, we don't always put too  much store in the reviews, we like what we like.  And, yes, this movie wasn't for everyone.  I think you had to be in a certain mood (you know that one where all taste leaves you and you laugh at anything).

Well, even though the theater was filled with 7 year olds we did laugh.  But....the best part of the movie wasn't the movie, it was the cartoon before the movie.  We didn't laugh at the cartoon, although it was cute.  The thing about the cartoon is that it brought back tons of wonderful memories.

I have loved the movies forever and one of the reasons I  have always loved them is just the experience of going to the movies, mostly with my sisters.   My mom or dad, usually my dad, used to drive us to the Fox Theater in Anaheim where we would look forward to getting our popcorn and our movie candy and sitting together to watch the movie. 

My dad would tell us that he would be back to pick us up when the movie was over and we knew he would, but we also knew that he would probably not be there precisely when the movie let out.  Those things are hard to time, right?

Whatever the movie was that we were going to watch, we knew that there would be cartoons first.  I think that was my favorite part of the experience.  I would laugh my head off at these crazy animals dropping anvils on each others heads.  It was funny.  It  might not be funny now because you have to content with all the animal rights people.  Don't get me wrong, I love animals and am all for animal rights, but cartoons, really?

Then the movie would come on and after the first movie, yes I said the first movie,  there would be more cartoons.  After the cartoons, there was always the second feature to enjoy.  You could spend the entire afternoon in the movie theater, which at that time seemed grand to me.  There was even a balcony, which we generally stayed away from, because we all knew what went on in the balcony!

Well, the movies would eventually be over and we would wander outside to wait for our dad.  There was a bench where we would sit and wait.   And to my way of thinking, we waited and waited and waited and he always seemed to be late, at least that's what my 11 year old mind thought.  I don't know if my sisters worried the way I did, that maybe he forgot about us and I didn't know what we would do.  This was a long time before cell phones.

Well, of course, he never forgot about us and I'm not even sure he was ever late.  That's just how I remember it.

You know that expression, "those were the days"?  Well those were the days!