And A Fun Day Was Had By All.

I played hookey yesterday. No kidding.

I NEVER do this. I am always saying, "No, not this time," or "I have a ton of things to do," or "I'll just stay home, you guys go and have a good time."

But yesterday was different.

I needed to make a trip to Rocky Mount, which is 35 minutes south. I thought JB would want to come so we could remedy her new swimsuit situation. I tried to talk Bunny into coming with, but she she said no. Everyone around here seemed out of sorts, except me. I was worried about it being one of those trips where you regret taking a kid because they are just a pain. So I tried not to be a talky-talky-pest-of-a-mom to JB during the trip down. We listened to praise music on our Christian station. It was nice. She perked up a little.

We did our errands and JB got a new swimsuit, even an additional piece to it that only cost $1 more. She perked up a little more.

So then we decided to sneak off and play hookey. We called Hunk O Man to make sure nothing was happening last night that necessitated our being home. JB told him we were shopping and it would probably take awhile.

We hit a dollar store for cheap Milk Duds and Skittles and Twix bars.

We loaded the candy and our water bottles into my purse that will hold half of China.

We felt very sneaky.

And then, we went to the movies! Wa-hooey!

We wanted to see Narnia, but it didn't start till 7:00PM and this was just about 10 past 5:00PM. So we bought tickets for Iron Man. Matinee prices.

(BTW -- GREAT movie. I loved it. I've always liked Robert Downey Jr and wanted to rescue him from his drug-addicted life. He is just an extraordinary actor. And Gwyneth Paltrow -- thank you, thank you, thank you for the form-fitting clothes that show you have a gorgeous figure and have obviously had two children!)

So we get the big popcorn and the big Diet Coke and head into the theatre. There is one guy in there, in the front row on the floor. We choose the higher-up section and go to the 3rd row. Nothing like a private showing!

I sneakily take my cell phone out, turn it off, and wave goodbye to it. JB waves too. We then begin devouring popcorn.

About 10 minutes into the movie, Elderly Sweet Southern Gentleman, probably in his late 70's, walks in. He is hunched over. He heads for the floor section -- but then decides to come up to the higher altitudes with us. He sits behind us one row, about 5 seats over.

Next thing I know, he's tapping my shoulder as I'm stuffing popcorn into my mouth.

And with that sweet, slow, southern accent, he asks,

"Hey, can y'catch me up? What's happened so far?"

Huh? (quickly swallow popcorn!)

I turn and explain what happened in the beginning of the movie.

"What?" He puts his hand to his ear.

I repeat the description. Then I tell him "this part is 48 hours earlier."

"Oh! So this is like a flashback."

He thanks me profusely and I turn around and smile. I LOVE IT! when this kind of thing happens. It makes me feel used by God and totally in the moment. Very cool stuff, that.

So the movie progresses and we get to the 48 hours later part, and I turn and say, "This is where they all get blown up."

He says "What?" and then "Oh! OK." and smiles.

** (brief aside) Now we are very sneaky in our movie going in the Wesner household. We always, always, always buy popcorn and a drink. We usually end up spending more on that than on the tickets. And then we go to our showing. And when it's done, we movie-hop until we are tired and go home. We usually see 2 or 3 movies. No, we do not actually pay for these movies. But the popcorn and drinks is where the theatres make all their money anyway, so we don't feel bad about that. Plus, there are 7 of us when we all go. Situational ethics, I know. I've gone round and round about this with Hunk O Man. He always wins. The theatres are still making money off us. **

So JB and I are watching the clock because you bet at 7:00PM we're heading over to see Narnia. In the meantime, I am whispering "He's the bad guy, isn't he?" She is just making that raised eyebrow face at me like she does. Bad guy is revealed. I whisper, "I knew it!" She laughs.

At 7:05, we get up to leave. Elderly Sweet Gentleman behind us says "You're not leaving, are you?" He sounds so sad. I feel bad leaving him. But not bad enough to stay.

I wave to him. We make a bathroom stop and sneak into Narnia just in time for one preview. The theatre is not deserted, but it's not even half full. Man o man o man did we ever choose the right day to go to the movies!

JB has already seen Iron Man, so she tells me how it ends. I am happy with that until the DVD comes out.

We devour the rest of the popcorn, almost all the Milk Duds, all the Skittles, one Twix bar, all the Diet Coke and half the water. I whisper to JB at the parts I remember. She whispers questions back. We leave at the end of Narnia talking about all the ways this story is just like God in our lives.

We drive home happy in the 85 degree heat with the sunroof and back windows open. We chat the whole way, and I only drive 65 because it makes the RPM's only go a little over 2, and that gets us better gas mileage.

When we get home, we talk about how light it is outside and how much we love summer. I thank JB for having such a great day with me. We both smile.

And a good day was had by all.