My weekend has been sucked up by activity. And I don't like it.



I mean, I liked the different things I was doing, while I was doing them, but now that it's 6:30 on Sunday evening I have nothing to show for it. My house is a mess. My children are over tired and cranky and miss their mother. My husband and I haven't gotten any quality time together. And I'm more exhausted now than I was at the beginning of the weekend.



But I did have a good time having a good time. Didn't I?



It's easy to tell I'm just over tired.

It's obvious that I'm over tired because all I want to do is complain. What I should probably do is go lay down for fifteen minutes and come back to write this. But that's dangerous. I don't trust my fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes is more likely to turn into an hour and than two hours and maybe the whole night. So I should probably forget about that idea.

Now, I really have to concentrate on a positive attitude.

So tonight, let's talk about something positive. Uplifting. Fun even.

Let's talk about the movies.

I love watching movies. I love plot lines and different genres. I love getting sucked into a good tearjerker and balling my eyes out, or finding myself tense during an action flick cheering on the hero, or laughing until I make no noise whatsoever and find myself gasping for breath from a comedy.

I love movies.

At home, by myself, curled up in my bed and wearing junky sweats with my hair in a pony tail. With friends on my couch or theirs, laughing together and quoting our favorite lines later. With Zach, talking it over after, deciding exactly what we think, waxing philosophical and deciding the impact any particular movie will have on today's culture.

But my favorite movies....

My favorite movies are the ones in the movie theaters. The ones where you get dressed up(Well, we at least still get dressed up to go see movies), and find a baby sitter, and arrive ten minutes early so you don't miss the previews. The one's where Zach whips out his wallet, pretending that it's all his(Ok, it mostly is) and we are on a date like before we were married, and than he buys me popcorn to share even though he doesn't even like popcorn and a soda to share of course.

The ones where they still take your ticket and point in the direction of your theater. The ones where I whisper(some may say talk loudly) to anyone who is next to me, giving my opinion loudly and without censorship. The ones where I watch every preview as if I'm watching a short, but very interesting mini-movie. The ones where I get wrapped up inside the plot line: body, mind and soul; so that I cry when the actors cry, laugh when they laugh, smile when they smile. And the ones at the end of the feature presentation where I stay to finish the credits or at least until I can't torture my bladder anymore and rush out of the darkened room in search of the nearest bathroom.

Yes, those are my favorite movies.

And one of my most favorite experiences.

Every time I enter a theater I feel like little orphan Annie, dancing and singing my way down the aisle to my seat.

The experience is sentimental and romantic no matter what the film depicts. I am always in the mood for a movie. I am always excited to go. And I am glad I went, no matter what the movie turned out to be like.

This weekend I saw two movies, which actually never happens. As much as I enjoy going to movies, Zach would be perfectly content to wait for them on DVD. He's not so much a fan of the money spent. So going to movies is especially sacred these days.

However, this weekend I got lucky. Friday night I crashed a guy's night and joined Zach and his friends at The Book of Eli. The movie more than exceeded my expectations and despite the gory nature of the film, filled me with hope and security. The message was superb, the acting flawless, and the cinematography eerie but beautiful.

Today, I met my two sisters and mother in law at the theater for The Lovely Bones. This one, I'm going to be honest.... I did not like so much. In fact, I hated it. I left the movie feeling depressed and paranoid. Because of that movie actually, I don't ever think Stella and Scarlett will be allowed out of my sight. Sorry teenage years, they are probably going to suck for you two girls.

But that wasn't the point. The point was I got to sit there with my family. Whispering and laughing at inside jokes. Questioning out loud what was going on when the movie took a weird turn and suddenly we felt like we were tripping out on acid. Voicing our anger when the villain made us angry and when we didn't think the story would find retribution. And shrieking while covering our eyes with our hands when the music took any turn in tone.

That was the point. Sharing the experience. Discussing the movie at length afterwards. Enjoying the time we spent together, eating homemade popcorn smuggled in vis a vi our purses and breaking my soda ban for just three meesly hours.

No matter the movie, no matter the occasion, for me a movie is a magical experience. And so no matter how disappointed with my weekend I may be now, during those two movies, that six hours of my time, I visited a different world and came away satisfied.