Eyes Wide Open

We returned Thursday night from D/FW after a great 4 day visit with my family. Heather and I decided last week that we would celebrate our 8th anniversary at some point during our trip, so on Wednesday night the kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa while we were out on the town.

We both love Chicago-style pizza and headed off for Uno’s in downtown Fort Worth. After a great dinner, we meandered toward the movie theater. I knew Heather wouldn’t be interested in seeing The Dark Night, and I really didn’t know what else might be of interest. She really wanted to see Mamma Mia! The Movie. I read on Scot McKnight’s blog his delightful review of the musical-turned-movie and decided to give it a chance.

Before we even walked up the stairs inside the theater to find our seats, I sensed that something wasn’t quite right. Something was in the air, and it wasn’t the smell of popcorn. It was estrogen…and lots of it. I began to wonder how many other males there were besides myself and quickly did a scan of the entire theater. Can you guess how many? Two.

I turned to Heather with the biggest grin on my face and said, “You’re gonna owe me big time for this one.” Despite her contention that she had seen many a “guy-flick” with me (which she has), I had a strong hunch that this experience would far outweigh the sum total of the others.

I was correct.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a big-time ABBA fan, and I love musical-theater. But for a moment I thought I might as well have been watching Little Women.,..or Fried-Green Tomatoes…or Steel Magnolias. I had stepped into another world that I knew not of. Oh, I had heard of this world…but I’ve never really experienced it. I still can’t quite put into words this most unusual experience, but I think it really hit me when the entire theater began waving their arms to the music, eventually errupting in applause following the song “Dancing Queen.” In fact, at the conclusion of the movie, the entire middle section (we were off to the side) got out of their seats and began dancing everywhere.

This would be the point where I looked at Heather with complete laughter and said, “You owe me big time for this one!” I will say, however, this was certainly one of our more memorable anniversary celebrations.

Did I mention that I really enjoyed the movie?