In the summer of 1996 I drove my brand-spanking new Mazda Protege out to Worcester, MA to pick up a date. This wasn’t just any first date, as I was heading out with my best friend’s sister (he’d already given his blessing to the arrangement). Her name was Katie, and I could already tell we had plenty in common before I picked her up that evening. It was a Thursday in July, and we headed out to a little Italian restaurant on the shores of Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester. The conversation was easy, there were plenty of smiles, and I headed home that night with a sense that I hadn’t seen the last of this woman. 3 years later we were married, and my dating days were over! Or so I thought…
Look out "Gone With the Wind", the Chipmunks are here!
Last Friday night was the inaugural edition of what my family is calling the Molly-Daddy date night. My 3 year-old Abby was going to be attending a princess birthday party with my wife, so we were faced with that inevitable parenting challenge: distracting Child B when Child A gets to do something fun that he/she doesn’t get to do. I had a quick brainstorm and thought back to the holiday season when Molly would immediately crank the radio anytime the “Chipmunk Christmas Song” came on. With Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel playing at the local theater, I knew I had a perfect surprise candidate for a night out with Molly. I should have known better than to tease it to a 5 year-old who doesn’t miss a trick (or a kid movie commercial). The bedtime conversation went something like this:
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Me: Molly- I have an exciting secret adventure planned for Friday when Abby is at the birthday party! You’ll never guess what it is.
Molly (excitedly) : What is it?? Are you taking me to see Alvin and the Chipmunks at the movie theater?!?
Me (stunned): Uhhh… I don’t know, you’ll have to wait and see. G’night.
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So much for the “surprise” aspect. I finally confirmed her guess on Friday morning, giving her an entire school day to anticipate the big night out. I got home from a meeting to find her all dressed and ready, her hair neatly brushed and her favorite teddy bear tucked under her arm. There was just one problem: earlier that day she managed to get some sort of wood fragment from a pencil sharpener into her right eye, which was red and irritated. This was the 5 year-old equivalent of a teenage girl waking up with a huge zit in the middle of her forehead on the day of her prom. The good news is my Molly is a trooper. No minor eye issue was going to keep her away from the earsplitting and potentially seizure-inducing voices of her favorite rock star rodents. She made but one request as we headed out the door: “Daddy, I don’t want to eat ANY junk food because I don’t want to get a belly ache”. I assured her there would be plenty of healthy snacks at the theater, hoping she wouldn’t call me out on that later.
We arrived at the cinema and where do you think my date headed? You guessed it: straight for the candy counter! She dropped that anti-junk food policy quicker than I could say “2 for the Chipmunks movie, please”, which saved me the trouble of trying to explain why gummy bears are the healthiest food in the theater. A box of Junior Mints was her candy of choice, and we combined that with one barrel of popcorn, one 58-ounce “small” fruit punch for her, and one 276-ounce “medium” diet soda for me for the low, low price of only $87.45. A night at the movies: priceless.
Cutest. Date. EVER.
As we entered the theater, I was mulling over that familiar question I always ask myself when I arrive for a movie 10 minutes early: why do I do this when I know there’s going to be 20 minutes of previews?? That answer is simple. Every moviegoer remembers that time they were late to a movie and ended up stuck in those neck-craning seats near the front, and no one wants to repeat that experience. So despite there being only 10 other people in the theater with us, I congratulated myself on not taking the chance. I tried explaining this to Molly, but she was busy examining the size of the cupholders.
The previews flew by quickly. The Karate Kid (I’m fairly sure they showed this just to make me feel old), Alice in Wonderland (Molly buried her head in my arm through the whole thing), Tooth Fairy (this preview drew belly laughs from Molly), and then finally it was time for the main event! Molly settled back in her seat and gave me her sweetest smile, a sure sign that she was already having fun. That eye was bothersome but she refused to let it distract her from Alvin & the gang. She happily began munching popcorn and sipping on that giant fruit punch, occasionally nudging my arm when she wanted to a handful of Junior Mints.
So how was the movie? Uhhh… let’s just say I think everyone associated with it can safely make other plans for Academy Awards night, unless the wardrobe team gets credit for those cute Chipette outfits. Honestly my movie wasn’t on the big screen, it was going on right next to me. I just kept glancing over to watch Molly’s reactions and listen to her laugh. I couldn’t help but fast forward 10 years to when some carefully screened young man might be the one who’s lucky enough to be sitting next to my daughter in the very same theater. Of course this will be very convenient for me, since I’ll be sitting behind them and can tap the kid on the shoulder whenever I need a drink refill.
We had originally planned to grab dinner after the movie, but when the show ended it quickly became clear this wouldn’t happen. Poor Molly’s eye had gone from bad to worse. She couldn’t even bring herself to walk to the car, I had to pick her up and carry her (I’m savoring the precious remaining days when I’m able to do this). After I strapped her in her seat she finally admitted “Daddy, my eye really really hurts”. The tears began to flow and we agreed it would be best to head straight home. Times like this I’m thankful to be married to a member of the medical profession, and by bedtime she was feeling better. After her prayers we recounted all our favorite scenes from the movie, and we agreed that we’d do another complete date night (movie AND dinner) in the very near future.
As I look back at our first Molly-Daddy date night, it strikes me how similar this was to most of my dates before I met my wife. It started out with high hopes and grand plans, then ended prematurely with tears and a demand to be taken home. Ahh, but no matter. I still got my kiss good night, and there’s a second date in the works! That’s all a dad like me can ask for.
