Dinner and a Movie

I started reading blogs over a decade ago when my youngest son was a baby. I

love to read but was unable to get through an entire novel with having a new baby to

care for. So, I discovered the world of blogs. Short stories about life. I found them

inspirational and easy reads in-between changing diapers and feeding times.

I happened to come across a blog created by a country music writer, Rory Feek. He

wrote about his wife, Joey, their family and their farm in Indiana. They were a country

music duo, who before the blog, I had never heard of, but after binge reading their lives,

I knew everything about them. I began listening to their music, watching their videos,

and watching their television program they had created; The Joey + Rory show.

Rory also wrote about Joey’s battle with cancer, a battle that she unfortunately lost in 2016. Rory produced a movie about Joey, after her death. It was called To Joey with Love. It was mainly the entire blog made into a film, and I just had to see it.

At work, I was talking about the film with one of my co-workers, Priscilla. Her and

I have worked together since 2004. We have absolutely nothing in common and have

completely conflicting personalities. This is why we became good friends. I went on and

on about the film and how badly I wanted to see it. The theater would only be showing it

one night and I just had to go.

Later that day, Priscilla let me know that she prepaid for two tickets to see the film, and although she had no desire to see it, and was not a fan of the country music duo, she would come with me.

The night of the movie, I had everything planned. Priscilla and I had decided to

get dinner before the 7pm showing at the theater. There is a gourmet pizza restaurant

that Priscilla is in love with right in the same plaza as the theater. I wanted to treat her to

a nice dinner to thank her for the movie tickets. We decided that I would do the driving.

Priscilla is never early to anything. If you tell her to be somewhere at 6pm, she will start

getting ready at 5:59. I did not want to take any chance of not getting a good seat in the

theater. I was completely convinced that by the time the movie started, it would be

standing room only. I calculated the night down to the minute. I gave 30 minutes for

driving, 1 hour for dinner, and 1 hour before the movie started so we could get the best

seats.

Everything had been going as planned. We arrived at the restaurant right on

time. I could see the theater as I was parking. To say I was excited is putting it mildly.

The restaurant had a wait time of 15 minutes. This was not in my plan but pizza is quick

and easy. How long could it take to make a pizza and eat it?

I will tell you how long. Way longer than I had budgeted our time for. By the time we sat, ordered, and had our pizza on plates in front of us, an hour had gone by. We should have already been in the theater, sitting in the best seats the theater had to offer. I was panicking inside.

I had already eaten my pizza; the roof of my mouth had no more skin left on it. As soon as my food was set in front of me, I hurried and ate it without giving any thought that it just

came out of a hot, brick oven. Priscilla, on the other hand, hadn’t touched her food. She

was talking about something and I just watched her, not eating her dinner.

Please eat your food so we can go. I dare not say that out loud. Instead, I asked her if she was going to eat. She told me she wanted to let her pizza cool down so she doesn’t burn the roof of her mouth. She did have a point. But my movie was going to start. We have to

leave.

I called over the waiter and asked him for boxes for our food. Priscilla looked at

me like I was crazy. I apologized to her and said the movie theater is going to start filling

up and we had to go. Priscilla rolled her eyes, boxed up her pizza, grabbed one slice for

the road and we left.

We drove over to the other side of the plaza, Priscilla eating her slice of pizza while telling me how ridiculous I was. A group of older women were walking in front of the car, heading towards the theater. Without missing a beat, Priscilla says “oh boy, you better hurry up and park. The crowd is making their way into the movie!”

We only had about 20 minutes before the movie started. I run ahead of Priscilla

into the theater. There is no time for popcorn. We need to get to our seats. I turn around

to look for my friend. And there she is. On the popcorn line. We just ate. Why does she

need popcorn?

I run over to her as she is reading the menu for popcorn. Taking in every

sentence written on the board. I am so panicked, I’m starting to sweat. She finally

makes a decision and gets popcorn. Extra, extra butter. And a large soda. I pay for her

snacks, grab some napkins because of the ridiculous amount of butter on her popcorn,

and we run to our theater.

I open the door. I’m confused. There are no people. I step back outside to make sure we were in the right theater. It was confirmed. It is the right theater and there are no other people in it.

Priscilla burst out laughing and says how it was a good thing we rushed in, there are no seats left. We took our seats and the door opens. The group of older women from the parking lot are in to see the movie too. Priscilla tells me to brace myself, the crowd just entered. I roll my eyes at her and eat some of her popcorn.

It was all fun and games until 5 minutes into the movie, my friend is a blubbering

mess. I already knew the story. It is a beautiful, sad story. But I knew what to expect.

Apparently, Priscilla did not. She is sobbing. Crying uncontrollably to the point the group

of older women are looking back at us. I was glad I grabbed all of those extra popcorn

napkins so Priscilla had something to wipe her tears with.

After the movie was finished, I turned to look at my friend who is an utter wreck. Her face is shining with tears and popcorn grease. She tells me that was the saddest movie she has ever seen.

Weeks later, she bought the movie on CD.

Over the years, Priscilla and I have gone to many movies together. We have similar taste in films and a lot of them, our husbands would rather not see. It gives us a great opportunity to catch up with each other’s lives, outside of our work life.

But of all the movies that we had gone to see together, that is one I will never forget.

-Desiree