Mukilteo Musings

Delightful Weekend

Kaley just called and she arrived back at Whitman safe and sound. Most of her Thanksgiving break was spent on the east coast where she was visiting her best girlfriend from high school. Her friend attends St. John's College in Annapolis. Kaley flew to Seattle from Baltimore on Thanksgiving Day and this morning we put her on a plane to fly to the Tri-Cities where her car was left at the Pasco airport. Pasco is about an hour's drive from Walla Walla. I am proud that she managed the trip all by herself including making a tight connection at Chicago's O'Hare which resulted in a lost bag. The trip was not without cell phone calls to the parents guiding her through as best we could when her airplane sat waiting an uncomfortable amount of time for a gate.

The time with her seemed so short but she will be home for a longer time at Christmas. Thanksgiving dinner turned out well. I did not over cook the turkey which I sometimes do. We have had plenty of leftovers and we still have an entire pumpkin pie in the garage. We ran out of room in the refrigerator and it is chilly enough for the garage to act as my second refrig. It is lovely and soul soothing to have her practice the piano. She practices her singing as well but we are not supposed to be listening when she does. The thing is her voice is becoming more powerful and shutting the door does not do the trick. I try to not pay attention but it is hard when what I hear is beautiful.

On Friday after Thanksgiving, we do not do the shopping frenzy. For us, it is fun to go to a movie. Since I have let my children pick my movies lately, I decided it was my turn. Both Dave and Kaley wanted to see "American Gangster" with Denzel Washington. I was not up for anything bloody, heavy or violent but I was willing if they insisted. Unfortunately, attending that movie would have brought us too close to a shopping mall. The original downtown Edmonds Theater was showing Disney's "Enchanted" starring Patrick Dempsey and Amy Adams. I told my daughter I wanted her to let me pretend she was 10 years old again and humor me with a princess movie that had received good reviews. Dave dropped out of the discussion and assumed we were going to "American Gangster."

Ha! The look on his face when we parked in front of the theater was priceless. "You are making me go to an animated Disney movie?"

"Ah, it's not animated," I replied as we watched little girls in princess dresses line up.

Kaley added her dry wit to the whole situation by making a "you know Mom" kind of look. The movie did have Patrick Dempsey in it, after all.

"Well, if I have to suffer through this, I am getting popcorn----with butter!" Dave announced breaking my ban on movie popcorn.

We filed into the old fashioned theater with people ranging in age from three to 93. Dave humphed into his seat with his popcorn thinking this was a huge waste of his precious time. "Hey, it got good reviews....just sayin' it may not be so bad. And we are not at the mall." The movie started with, uh-oh, animation. I didn't know. Dave gave me one of those "you totally owe me" looks.

Let me tell you, we thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The audience laughed and clapped. Parts of it were hysterical. Kaley was whispering, "Oh, see her? She's a big Broadway star. And him? He was in Hairspray." Kaley was sitting between Dave and me but I distinctly heard him chuckling heartily several times. There were moments I was laughing so hard, tears came out of my eyes. It was a delightful way to spend a couple of hours with my family. Dave and Kaley both forgave me for dragging them there.

I do not deny that it was a ridiculous movie but it did not pretend otherwise. So lose your literary sophistication. Go to "Enchanted" and prepare yourselves to be entertained.

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/enchanted/

Do not forget to wear your princess dress!!